Believe In You
by Picklesz
Summary: Two orphans and two longtime friends aren't likely heroes, but somehow, fate planned them out to be. When strange events start to happen around them, their lives intersect, and they become destined to save the world together. Following adventures greater than four thirteen year-olds could ever imagine, their quest forces them to believe in each other more than ever. [adopted!]
1. New Places

A/N: **Hey, you've reached my EarthBound story that actually has more than 2,000 words in the first chapter! Finally, I can write long!**

 **Anyways... I'm going to try to update this story every Monday. You might think that's a crazy goal for me and you'd be right, but this time I have written this story in advance. Also it takes me like a day to write a chapter since I'm so invested in this story tbh.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Two boys halted to a stop on top of a hill, looking down on the sunlight-bathed town before them. A giant billboard read "Welcome to Onett". The town was alive and active, cars flowing through the street and people running through the sidewalks.

"Whoa..." The blond boy gasped. "This city is huge!" His eyes lit with child-like wonder, mouth gaped open in astonishment.

"It's a surprise we haven't seen it before." The other spoke in a voice that was serious; a vast contrast from the blond's.

"...I-I'm guessing this is our new home?" The blond sighed, sitting down on the ground. His question was a lie: the two never really had a home since their parents died a year ago. They'd been moving about, but it wasn't easy finding someone who actually cared for them, or at least people that wouldn't hate them.

"Yeah, it is." The red-head plopped down next to the blond. "Lucas, it's going to be okay, alright? No matter what happens, we'll be together. Promise."

"...O-Okay."

"Promise."

"I promise, Claus."

Even if they were undoubtedly scared, their words comforted one another, even if they were mostly meant for the blond. They stood up, gazing down once again at their newfound town.

A spark of unnoticed electricity jumped between their hands before they walked down into the city called Onett.

* * *

The streets were the loneliest place on Earth in Lucas' opinion.

Though the streets were easily the most populated part of the town, its atmosphere didn't match it. People only strode past them, making their way towards their destinations. Nobody stopped to talk to them.

And why should they? Lucas was expecting too much of them already. Maybe it was just because obviously nobody had seen them before that he thought they might just say hello... but nowhere in the world was quite like his old home, Tazmily.

As if sensing his thoughts, his twin, Claus, spoke up. "It's okay, Lucas. At least they haven't done anything to us yet. We leave them alone, they leave us alone."

"Yeah, but..." Lucas sighed. "Why did we have to leave Tazmily, Claus?"

Claus visibly became, even if only a tiny bit, more tense. Lucas noticed he always did this whenever he mentioned their escape from their old home, even if the question or statement, like now, was rhetorical. It had been strange — no, unnerving — as the townspeople suddenly turned on them, chasing them out... He shook his head. He didn't want to bring up old memories, especially ones like these...

"I-I don't know," Claus finally replied, averting his eyes to the ground. "Don't think about it, okay?"

Lucas always knew something was wrong — this was not the energetic, hasty brother he once knew — but as always, he didn't push it any further. He knew he wouldn't get an answer: not for now, at least. Probably not for a long time. He took his mind off the matter, focusing on the town in front of them.

It was such a bright town for the mood they were in.

"It's getting late," Claus stated obviously. "We should find somewhere to stay the night."

"Stay the night" did not mean to stay in a house. It meant find anywhere that's suitable for shelter. But they were both used to this by now. Lucas simply nodded in response, and they set off to find their temporary home.

 **0o0o0o0**

The alley seemed like an unsafe place to be at night, but in reality, it was the safest place they could find. They didn't stand out much in the darkness, plus, it was actually highly unlikely that someone would decide to walk down an alleyway in the middle of the night. That person would be as apprehensive as any sane person would about entering an ominous alley. As long as it wasn't occupied, Lucas and Claus were safe.

Usually by now, Lucas would be sleeping. But right now, he sat dead-awake, staring at the stars and the moon in the sky. Not a hint of tiredness ran through his veins. It was a strange feeling for him: he had never stayed up this late and not wanted to sleep, even when he and Claus woke up at noon and stopped traveling only hours later.

What made the feeling even stranger was a odd sensation running throughout his entire body, like a tug, pulling him to something, yet he didn't know what...

"Lucas." Lucas turned his head to the side to see his brother staring at him. Then Claus' eyes changed to a unidentifiable emotion in the darkness. "What are you actually doing still up?"

Lucas was at a loss for words. He paused, then gave a small shrug. "...I don't know," he admitted.

"Then go to sleep, for goodness sake! You never even stay up this late when we only walk for like two hours."

"I'm not tired."

Claus blinked. "Something's wrong with you."

"Onett's a strange place, I-I guess."

"No, I mean seriously." Claus crossed his arms. "Well, I guess it's good you haven't exerted yourself, but this isn't normal for you."

"Not much is normal." Lucas rested his head on his knees, which were curled up to his chest. Claus sighed.

"I guess you're right." Claus seemed to give up his argument, gazing up at the sky.

"...Why are you up?" Lucas asked. Claus looked at him silently.

That was different.

"Alleyways are dangerous places," Claus suggested, which was obviously a lie.

"You wouldn't have let us stay here if that was true."

"Dang it Lucas, why do you have to see through everything I say?" Claus sighed. "Look, we don't know this town yet. I'm just observing."

Lucas stared for a moment. It still didn't sound super convincing, but it was useless to press for further information. His twin could be unbelievably stubborn, and that was a lot of the time. It was probably nothing, anyways: just him being overly-concerned about every little thing. He'd been like that since... "the incident". He sighed.

"Well, goodnight." Lucas shut his eyes.

"Goodnight."

Lucas feel asleep with the tug still pulling at his whole body.

 **0o0o0o0**

"Lucas! Come on!"

An impatient voice pierced through Lucas' empty mind. All at once he was transported to what felt surreal yet lifelike, the new city surrounding him.

"Lucas, we don't have all day! What are you staring at?"

To his surprise, the voice didn't come from his ever-impatient brother. It came from a boy in a yellow and blue striped shirt and red and blue hat, motioning quickly for him to come over.

Lucas had never seen this person in his life. He'd never even seen someone who looked remotely close to this new person.

So why was he in his dream?

"W-What is it?" He stammered, staying glued to the spot.

"Lucas, its nothing dangerous." The boy rolled his eyes, as if he knew Lucas inside and out. "Why are you so nervous all of a sudden?" The mood drastically changed, the boy studying him oddly. Lucas was suddenly hyper-aware of everything around him: a stray tree to their right, the street to the left of them, and the skeptic stare the boy was giving him. He was aware of himself fiddling with his hands, and he self-consciously stopped it.

"I-I... I don't know you," Lucas stammered, eyeing the other boy nervously. The boy's stare only turned more incredulous.

"Did you get amnesia or something, Lucas?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. "I'm Ness. Remember?"

Lucas' surroundings faded away, and suddenly, he was in the alleyway again, staring at the wall in front of him. He started to calm his breathing.

What was that dream? And why was the tugging from yesterday getting even stronger?

"You okay?" He looked over to see Claus looking at him, a twinge of concern in his eyes.

No, scratch that. It was straight-up worry.

"I'm fine." Lucas sighed. "Just... a dream."

"Just?" Crossed arms and a raised eyebrow came from Claus. "Seems different to me."

Sometimes their ability to see through the other's lies and excuses were annoying, especially when you were on the receiving end of it. But Lucas couldn't bear to hide anything, or even worse, lie. And lying to his own brother was a terrible offense to him: he doubted he could manage it in a million years, not even for eternity.

"It was... surreal," he admitted. "It felt like it was happening in real life, yet it was unfocused... and someone I've never seen in my life was my 'friend'..." He sighed, curling his legs up to his chest. "Am I going crazy?" He asked shakily, staring at the ground.

"No, you're fine!" Claus exclaimed. "I-It's just a dream, Lucas. You can't be insane because of a dream."

"But dreams draw from things I've seen before... and an unfamiliar person was there, talking to me."

"Are you sure?"

"I would've recognized them. We... haven't really had many friends s-since-"

"Good point," Claus interrupted, saving Lucas from retelling bitter memories. "Well, in any case, you're fine. Stop worrying so much."

"But-"

"In any case," he started, his voice a flat tone, "we should find something to eat and drink soon. I'm starving."

In that moment, the tugging Lucas had been feeling for the past day had escalated in force, compelling him — no, almost making him move towards the direction it was pulling him in. It led towards the wall in front of him. But wait, now it was changing direction...

Almost subconsciously, he stood up, following the pulling sensation throughout his whole body. His walk turned into a run as the force began to shake him, and he whirled around the corner-

And he collided with something, then the ground. He landed on his side, the impact stinging his hands. Why had he done this, anyways?

But the pulling feeling had now became a buzzing in his limbs, stomach: everywhere, like he was right next to the source of the pulling sensation in the first place...

"Lucas?" Came Claus' voice, and footsteps came closer to Lucas. "Lucas, what the heck-"

"I'm fine." Lucas sat up, shaking his stinging hands.

"That's the second time you've said that

in two minutes, and last time you were lying." Claus narrowed his eyes at him.

"No, seriously, I am this time."

"Lucas..."

"Uh..." A voice interrupted them, and Lucas looked over. "Sorry for getting in your way."

Lucas stared shocked at what he realized. This person...

Was the same one he saw in his dream.

"I-It's my fault," he murmured, trying to not seem like he was a crazy person. Embarrassment flooded through him, and there was no doubt that his face was flushing pink. "I-I'm sorry..." He wanted to bury his face in his hands. This person — "Ness" — probably thought of him as a total klutz or airhead. Not that it really mattered, but... it was so... demoralizing.

"No, it's okay." The boy smiled. "Everyone messes up once in a while." Suddenly, his face turned into a confused one. "Hey, I've never seen you around before... What's your name?"

"None of your business," Claus snapped. Of course, a response like that was to be expected of Claus: hasty and maybe even a little bit rude.

But trusting someone was a hard thing to do after all they had gone through.

"It's okay." Claus' eyes widened in surprise at Lucas' intervention. Usually, Claus would do all the talking, since Lucas never talked unless he had to... but right now was one of those moments. He couldn't explain why, but he felt they were safe, that this "Ness" person could be trusted. Lucas took a deep breath. "I'm Lucas, and this is my brother Claus."

Claus stared at him skeptically at his introductions, as if saying he didn't approve of his decision, which was probably exactly why. Claus could be protective at times like this — well, a lot of the time, actually. Lucas gave him a look that hopefully said "it's safe".

"Ness." His head went back to the new person. A shiver ran through him: Ness' response had perfectly confirmed his dream. But why had his dream showed this person? Out of the hundreds of other people he had seen in his life, his mind chose one he hadn't seen before...

"Where do you guys live?" Ness interrupted his thoughts once again. Lucas swallowed nervously, glancing over at his brother, knowing the question had to have hit an unwelcome memory.

"W-We don't... really have a home..." Lucas trailed off, looking at the ground. "W-We're orphans..."

"Yeah," Claus spoke up, seeming to have snapped out of his thoughts and hopefully remembering that Lucas hated talking to people he didn't know. "So?"

The only problem about having Claus being a spokesperson was that the two of them had two completely different trains of thoughts and solutions to a problem.

And Claus' tended to be worse ones.

" _So?_ You guys don't have a place to live! Or eat! Or... anything!" Ness exclaimed. "Onett doesn't have a place for you two to go... Hey, follow me!"

Suddenly, Ness was up and running, monitoring for them to follow. Claus still had a skeptical look on his face.

"Are you sure about this?" Claus asked in a tired manner.

"We have no other shot, Claus," Lucas answered softly, looking in the direction Ness had run off in. "We have to try."

"I don't know why you're putting so much trust in him... But you're right, as much as I might hate it." Claus sighed and extended his hand for Lucas to pull himself up from the ground, which he did just so. "Let's follow this person."

They ran, catching up to Ness. And all the while, Lucas had only noticed one thing.

When Ness had run away from them, the buzzing had turned back into the pulling sensation, and when they caught up, the buzzing returned.

Was Ness causing this strange buzzing? Or was it just Lucas' imagination?

There was no time to wonder as they sped off into a neighborhood, running past houses and people to an unknown destination.


	2. New Friends

A/N: **Hey a new chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Sometimes, Claus thought Lucas was an idiot.

There was the normal small mistakes — forgetting something or the like. But that was easily excusable: Lucas could be a bit of an airhead, after all. Lucas always seemed to be focused on something else, something bigger. It was just his nature.

This... was something else entirely.

Trusting a random person was plain stupid if Claus had to put it honestly. The only person he really trusted was his own brother, for obvious reasons. Following this "Ness" person wasn't a great idea, to say the least. He didn't see anything good coming out of this. The best result was nothing happening; the worst was... in his eyes, death. Who knew what traps a random probably-thirteen year old could pull on them.

Was it irrational? Yes, maybe. But it was better to be safe than sorry.

Suddenly, they stopped in front of a clearing. Trees littered in the empty, grass-covered field, giving the place a lonely feel.

"Why are we here?" Claus asked, staring at the strange location to be brought to. He was skeptical already: this made it even worse.

Of course, this Ness figure wasn't fazed. "This isn't the reason we came here." Ness rolled his eyes. "Just follow me."

Ness walked off. Before Lucas could do the same, Claus grabbed his arm, pulling Lucas back to him.

"You sure about this?" Claus asked for the second time that day, more assertive this time. Lucas nodded, frustrating Claus if even just a tiny bit.

"I'm sure." Lucas' answer came with confidence, even going as far as to look his brother directly in the eyes. His face glowed with certainty, and Claus knew Lucas wasn't joking around.

Lucas never acted like that.

But that only made a mystery: why was Lucas trusting this random person so much? He didn't know anything about him, yet he decided to follow him, maybe even risking life or death, just for hope. Just because of one person he had ran in to...

Claus didn't loosen his grip on his brother's arm as they walked forward, following "Ness". Maybe he didn't like it, but arguing with Lucas wouldn't be fruitful in the slightest. Either Lucas would be submissive — which was almost always — or he would never change his opinion. Unfortunately, right now was the latter, which didn't make much sense because Claus knew Lucas hated confronting new people. Lucas must have a really good reason for doing this.

At least, Claus hoped he did.

"This is it," Ness stated, stopping in front of a tree with a ladder hanging down it. Ness grabbed hold of one of the rungs and started climbing up. "You two coming?"

"You haven't even told us what it is," Claus remarked.

"It's a tree house, of course! So are you coming or what?"

Ness continued up the ladder. Claus scowled. Ness could be lying. It could be a trap-

"Claus." Lucas' voice came through his thoughts, more confident than Claus had ever heard it in his life. "It'll be fine. Don't worry."

Claus stared shocked at his brother. That was what he usually said to Lucas, not the other way around...

"Okay, Lucas," Claus finally agreed, though he still held on to his apprehensions. He sighed. "I hope you're right about this."

Claus let go of Lucas' arm, climbing up the ladder and entering the tree house. To his surprise, there was more than one person there...

That was different. And could be a set-up, he realized.

But something about their expressions made Claus think otherwise. It wasn't blank, hostile, or overly-friendly, just normal.

So he could cross killing, kidnapping, or the like off the things they could do to them. Nobody could fake that perfect of an expression. He hoped, at least.

"Ness, why do you have two random people with you?" The unknown person asked, a tone of exasperation in his voice.

"Becaaause I can?" Ness suggested, shrugging. The other person sighed

"Really, Ness."

"I found them," Ness admitted, then made a face. "That sounds super weird when I say that. He-" Ness motioned to Lucas, who seemed to try to curl into a ball- "ran into me, and I found out they're orphans, and Onett has no orphanage or anything like that, so... I want to see if I can do anything to help them."

"Why didn't you tell us earlier, then?" Claus asked, almost glaring at Ness. Ness — finally — seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Ness, you're a freaking airhead," the other person retorted.

"Shut up Ninten," Ness muttered.

"Nice going." Ness shoved "Ninten".

"I guess I forgot... Sorry."

"He can be like that," the Ninten person added, smirking. Ness rolled his eyes.

"In any case, I do want to help you guys. I just don't know how," Ness added, muttering.

"So I'm the person to come up with a plan, I'm guessing?"

"...Maybe." Ness shrugged. "If they agree, of course."

"Huh-?" Lucas seemed to be snapped out of his anti-social state when the word "they" was spoken. "O-Oh, u-um-"

Suddenly, everything shook. A branch of the tree snapped, making the house go slanted. Claus quickly grabbed Lucas' arm and a railing on the side of the house, refraining them from falling off and out of the tree. He looked over at Lucas, whose eyes were alight with noticeable fear.

"It's gonna be okay," Claus whispered, hopefully retaking his role as the "older" twin. "It's probably just an earthquake..."

Or so he hoped. This happened when they followed Ness here. Of course, he doubted this person could make something reminiscent of an earthquake, but it was probably worse that they were stuck in a tree when this happened.

Great going, fate.

He glanced over at the two other people, who seemed to be having as much trouble as them. Claus could judge that the earthquake-thing wasn't planned from their reactions. It probably meant that they were harmless, but he couldn't be sure just yet.

A second later they were shrouded in darkness. The earthquake had stopped, thank goodness, but it was only replaced with ominous noises and an unshakable feeling that they were being watched. Claus pulled Lucas up closer to him so that Lucas could somewhat sit. He could feel his brother shaking and hear his breathing starting to hyperventilate, yet he could tell Lucas was trying in vain not to.

"We're fine," Claus whispered, hoping his voice resounded with absolute certainty. "We're-"

A muffled scream tore through the air. A flash of light revealed a robotic creature standing at the base of the house, reaching out to grab Lucas. In a second it had done just so, another shriek splitting the air. Claus immediately ran towards the creature, not even caring what it could do, before he heard Ness' voice again.

"PK Rockin'!" Another flash of light ripped through the air, sounded swallowing his ears, before it was over in an instant. The robotic creature was gone, and all that remained was a very startled Lucas.

Was that PSI?

"I-I'm sorry," Lucas choked out, directing Claus' attention back at his brother. "I j-just got in t-the way, didn't I...?"

Lucas curled into a ball, obviously embarrassed and very much shaken by what just happened. Claus crawled over to him, hoping that at least his company would help un-shake his brother.

But another problem hung in Claus' mind.

"You know... PSI?" Claus asked, for once in his life at a loss for words. Ness stared right back at Claus, seemingly as shocked as he was.

"You do?" Ness questioned back. "I thought me and Ninten were the only ones..."

"Yeah, and I thought we would keep it a secret," Ninten remarked. "That was risky, Ness."

"We'd be dead if I didn't do it."

"Anyways..." Claus glanced at the ground, sighing. He looked back up. "I wish I didn't have it."

"Why not?" Ness asked.

"Basically, it's why we're orphans." Claus looked at Lucas. He hoped Lucas was in enough shock not to hear this conversation: Lucas didn't need this unneeded drama in his life, much less Claus needed his brother questioning about it. "Don't ask any further," Claus growled, glaring at Ness and Ninten.

"Okay, I get it." Thank goodness Ness had common sense. "But from now on, I have a feeling we need to stick together. I sense that this isn't the last of these... attacks. I have no idea what's going on, but it must have to do with this PSI thing. This has never happened before until you two came."

"So somehow, we're at the center of your troubles."

Ness sighed. "Well, I guess if you put it like that... Do you think your brother has PSI?" Ness asked, changing the subject.

"Unfortunately, he probably does. We're twins."

This was the only time in his life Claus hated having a twin.

"Be on alert," Ness continued. "I'm not that skilled of a leader, and I know you probably don't trust me, but if this keeps happening... We need to stop it, okay? Nobody else has these powers, as you probably know..."

"Ness, I think we should be leaving soon," Ninten interrupted.

"Yeah... Meet us here tomorrow, okay?" Ness added before jumping down the ladder. "We'll make a plan."

Ninten followed after Ness, leaving only Claus and Lucas still in the slanted treehouse. Lucas was still shaking, adding to Claus' worry.

"...I made those creatures come, didn't I?" Lucas asked, his voice shaky. "Somehow, I know I did..."

"Lucas, there's no way you could've made that happen," Claus rebuked. "It's not your fault at all."

"Why did they target me, then?" Lucas shot back, voice wavering even more. "Why did I have that dream?"

"That dream has nothing to do with-"

"Ness is the person I saw in my dream, Claus... I think I'm going crazy..."

Claus sat silent, watching as Lucas curled back into a ball, no doubt an emotional wreck. Soon, he was crying softly to himself.

"I-I'm sorry..."

"For the millionth time, it's not your fault." Claus grabbed his brother's hand. "We have to get out of here in case those creatures come back. Let's go, okay?"

To Claus' relief, Lucas nodded, albeit shakily. They climbed down the ladder, walking back to where they were the night before.

Claus could only think of how Lucas dreamt of Ness, almost accurately predicting the future. The was only one solution, and it upset Claus even further.

Lucas must be unlocking his psychic power...


	3. Old Friends

A/N: **You thought you were lucky, seeing a third chapter! Nope, it's just a "2.5" chapter, if you will. This was going to be the third Chapter then I realized it was written more as filler, but whatever.**

 **Enjoy your extra .5 short chapter!**

* * *

"Ness, that was the craziest, stupidest idea you've ever had."

It seemed like the fifth time Ninten had said that in the last minute while they were walking home, but it didn't seem that Ness got the point yet. Using PSI in front of others... it was plain lucky that red-head had it too.

"I wasn't about to let someone die," Ness rebuked, glaring over at Ninten. "They probably would've found out sooner or later. If those creatures are really coming to attack them, anyways."

"I still don't see why you care so much about them," Ninten muttered, crossing his arms. Ness looked at the ground.

"Well... It must be a hard life for them. It would be selfish to just leave them there, wouldn't it?"

Ninten sighed. "Sometimes, I'm convinced too much kindness is a bad thing for you." Ness just rolled his eyes.

"And *you're* insensitive."

"That's not-"

"See what I mean? It's just the situation. I only seem too kind."

"So you're really not."

"I- Ugh, I didn't mean it like *that!"*

Ninten laughed, shoving the flustered Ness on the shoulder. "It doesn't really matter, anyways." He rolled his eyes in a light-hearted manner. His voice then returned to it's serious tone. "It was just super risky to use PSI, though. Just sayin'."

"Like I said, I wasn't going to let them die." Ness' face darkened. "I wonder why those things are coming, though. I've never had to use my PSI for... that..."

"Be happy you have offensive PSI. I can't do anything." Ninten scowled. Of course, he was the one with offensive tendencies — or so he was told — yet all he could do was support people. Ness was the kindest person he knew yet he had attack PSI. It just didn't seem right.

Then again, maybe it refrained him from blowing up and hurting people. Or something like that. Who knew.

"So... What even was that 'PK Rockin'' thing?" Ninten questioned, hopefully taking them off that overused topic. No matter what offensive PSI Ness had, "PK Rockin'" was one he had never used before: out of the few times he had used PSI, of course. Having PSI was a secret that needed to be kept, as no one else even knew it existed, and no one else needed to know.

"I... honestly don't know," Ness admitted, staring at the ground again. Now Ninten knew something was seriously up; Ness was never this uncertain. "It just came to my head when that thing attacked..."

"So does all PSI, to be honest," Ninten stated bluntly.

"Yeah, but this felt more powerful than normal PSI... I'm crazy, aren't I?"

"Gosh, no. Having more PSI doesn't make you any crazier than you already are."

"Gee, _thanks."_ Ness said it with sarcasm, yet he was smiling. "I'm making this too big of a deal, aren't I?"

"Yes, you are. You just got new PSI. Hurrayyyy. That's all there is to it, Ness."

A split second of silence interrupted their conversation before Ness nodded. "You're right."

"Never thought I'd hear those words spoken to me." Ninten grinned.

"Oh, whatever Ninten." Ness rolled his eyes. "I bet you've heard that plenty of times."

"You'd be surprised. I suck at school."

"Well, we're not in school."

"Point?"

"Since when were you so negative, Ninten?"

"I'm just a realist." Ninten shoved Ness lightheartedly. "Anyways, I have to go before everyone in my house freaks. Let's solve all these problems tomorrow, okay? My brain might fry soon."

"Okay. Bye."

And then they parted ways, walking away from each other. It was always a little bit lonely going back home, but Ninten didn't let it bother him.

After all, they had mysteries to solve in the nest day.


	4. New Mission

A/N: **Another week, another chapter... I'm so happy with all the favs and followers!** **(But like where are the reviews? *totally not begging* Just a bit weird... idk.)**

 **Whatever! Here's the next chapter!**

* * *

"Lucas...? Are you okay?"

Lucas' mind barely registered his brother's voice coming to him. He couldn't remember much that had happened: a creature attacked him, he fell, and now, somehow, he was back in the alley, undoubtably feverish and shaking...

"Lucas!" Claus' voice sounded muffled, as if being heard through a pair of headphones. Lucas could feel Claus grabbing his arm; his way of making sure he was okay.

"I-I'm fine," Lucas murmured.

"How many times are you going to say that today?" Claus shot back, clearly exasperated. "You look like you're dying."

"I-I do?" There was no way to get out of this, it seemed. Lucas had hoped he didn't look how he felt and it was just his imagination, but of course, it turned out his imagination wasn't doing anything right now. He sighed. "Why do I always get in-"

"My way? You don't. Nor do you get in anyone else's." Claus' voice resounded with affirmation. "Stop being so hard on yourself, Lucas."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you're hard on yourself. I've known you long enough to know that."

A silence ensued. It seemed weird; Claus being supportive like this. Claus wasn't good at this kind of thing — Lucas knew for a fact — yet when it came to him, Claus knew what to say, even what Lucas was about to say before he said it. Maybe it was some kind of twin synchrony, maybe it was just pure luck. Whatever it was, Lucas was glad that Claus had it, even if sometimes his brother's "support" came out as a bit blunt. It was the thought that counted, wasn't it?

Even if it didn't, Lucas would've appreciated it all the same.

"So," Claus continued, letting go of Lucas' arm, "are you *actually* okay?"

"...Probably not." Lucas stared at the ground, shaking even more. "I have no idea what's happening to me, why that creature was targeting me, if I actually am dying..."

"You better not be dying," Claus muttered. "As for that creature, I have no idea what it was."

"It's never going to be the same, is it? ...Our life, since that thing came... We have to find out what it is, Claus. W-What if it tries to hurt someone else?"

"Lucas..."

No more words came. Lucas knew he couldn't protect himself that well, but if it meant protecting other people, he would have to learn how to. These creatures... he didn't know what they were, but they were obviously dangerous.

Even if he didn't know how he escaped their grasp in the first place, he would learn how to do that again.

"...How did I escape from them?"

"What do you mean, Lucas?"

"The creatures. How did I get away from them?"

Claus looked at him blankly. He murmured something under his breath, but Lucas never got to learn what he said, because a second later he was tired, and then he was sleeping, drifting off into a fever dreams.

 **0o0o0o0**

"Claus...?"

Maybe Lucas was just seeing things. Or more accurately, not seeing them. Maybe he was dreaming. He was probably dreaming. He had to be asleep.

The next minute he would wake up and realize that what was happening now was a lie.

But it didn't happen. No matter how much he wished them to, he was still there, in the alley, not seeing Claus anywhere.

He told himself to breathe, to calm down, but that didn't happen. It didn't happen. He was still there, still approaching hyperventilation. No, this wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

It just didn't make sense.

Everything he told himself to do he ended up not doing. He told himself to calm down: he didn't. He told himself to just breathe: he didn't, only hyperventilated instead. He was useless. He couldn't even obey what he told himself to do.

All because his brother wasn't there.

Was it that big of a deal? To everyone else, it wasn't. But Lucas wasn't everyone else: he wanted to be everyone else, because everyone else was normal. He wasn't. He couldn't get the simplest of things right.

Agitated sparks started flying from his fingertips, but he didn't notice them as his attention was focused on the creatures coming towards him. The same ones that had tried to kill him only twelve hours ago. He wasn't going to let them take him now; not now, not ever again. He didn't want to make anyone worry for his sake ever again.

So he ran. He ran away from the town, but the robotic things were still coming towards him. Why were they following him? Why did they have to be targeting him? It made people worry for him when he didn't want them to. Somebody else was strong enough for these creatures; unfortunately, Lucas knew he wasn't. He turned-

And he was cornered. They were upon him, he couldn't run away. They came at him at all angles, and in those moments, he thought it was the end of his life. Scared beyond belief, he stared as they came, first a few yards away, then a few feet, then one foot, eleven inches...

Something started speaking at the back of his mind. It felt like light, like a bright sun in the middle of the night. It was quiet, whispers like a cool breeze. He reached out for it, hoping against hope that it help save him, no matter how absurd it sounded.

And then he heard it. The voice.

 _'PK Love.'_

The words washed a wave of calm over him in the midst of this trouble, like his life raft in the middle of a flood. He watched as the robots came closer, threatening to attack him now-

When the words came out of his mouth.

"PK Love."

Blue hexagons flooded the air around him, simmering like a beautiful fireworks show, demolishing the creatures surrounding him. He stood breathless in the middle of it, his limbs feeling like jelly, feeling completely draining of his strength. He fell to ground, his only thought that he was alive, still alive.

"Lucas?"

Lucas' head weakly turned towards the source of the sound: Ness was running towards him. Why someone he just met would worry about him was a mystery. Nobody he had ever shown his much overflowing compassion in the year him and Claus had been moving about for their lives.

"Are you okay?" Ness asked, sitting down next to him. Lucas stared at him for a moment — why was he so concerned? — then looked down at the ground. They would probably think he was a freak if he said what actually happened: who in the world can do whatever he just did?

"Don't worry, I have PSI too," Ness continued. Lucas' stare turned blank.

"...W-What?"

"You know that thing you just did?" Ninten interjected. "Yeah, that's PSI."

"Ninten..." Ness sighed. He rolled his eyes before he continued from where Ninten left off. "Though I don't think I've heard 'PK Love' before..."

"...I-I don't know either," Lucas murmured. "It just... came to me, a-and those creatures were attacking me..."

"It's okay. That's what happens with most PSI," Ness replied. "It mostly just suddenly comes to you." He paused, seeming not to know what to say.

"Hey, where's your brother?" Ninten asked, looking around the area. Lucas' face darkened, remembering why he was out here in the first place. "Because I... Oh." Ninten finally stopped talking after seeing Lucas' face.

"I-I don't k-know...," Lucas stuttered, feeling awkward, helpless, and lost at the same time. "H-He just... D-Do you think maybe... He g-got-"

"Captured?" Ness interjected, saving Lucas from further talk. Lucas nodded. "...Maybe, by those things..."

"I have a name for them, you know," Ninten spoke up. "They're called Starmen."

"Did you come up with it?"

"Actually, no." Ness looked stunned, and Ninten grinned. "Apparently, my great-grandfather studied PSI."

"I didn't know so many people knew about PSI!" Ness exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air.

"To be fair, everyone thought it was a hopeless study and my great-grandfather had gone crazy."

"...Oh." Ness stayed silent for a minute. He turned back to Lucas. "Anyways, if your brother has been taken by these 'Starmen' — I don't know how since he seems kind of strong — we'll help you find him. I would assume that he has, though, since... Well, those Starmen seem to be after you two."

"...But why?" Lucas asked quietly, trying to take all this information in. Ness gave a small shrug.

"We'll have to find out."

Lucas sat deep in thought. Nothing could take Claus without him putting up a fight, and Lucas knew that for a fact. The Starman had to have been a serious force to take him. They wanted him for a reason, and whatever that reason was, Lucas had a bad feeling about it.

Which was why he made up his mind to search for him.

He stood up, feeling a bit more confident than he had a minute earlier. "We'll look for him."

"That's good news." Ness beamed. "Except... How are we supposed to leave, Ninten?"

"I dunno," Ninten replied, shrugging. "Ask our parents or something."

"I doubt my mom will say yes to going off on a journey that could kill us."

"Worth a shot." Ninten walked off, leaving Ness and Lucas staring after him.

"He's like that normally," Ness told Lucas before following his friend.

"I heard that!" Ninten shouted back. Lucas trailed behind them tiredly, seeing no choice but to follow. Apparently, he hadn't recovered even halfway from his energy expanse, as he stumbled and almost fell over. Luckily, somebody caught him.

"Oh, I forgot. Sorry," Ness apologized, lifting Lucas back up. "It really expends your energy the first time."

Lucas stared, once again amazed by Ness' actions and how he already looked out for such a useless person like himself. "...Why do you care so much about me?" Lucas asked, a noticeable waver coming into his voice.

"Because you're my friend." Ness smiled before lightly pushing Lucas forwards. Lucas' eyes stung, unused to people acting like this, and he shook his head. "Now, let's see if my mom will agree to send me on a death quest, shall we?"

Ness walked up to house next to him and knocked. There was no answer.

"Hello?" Ness asked tentatively. He opened the door, seemingly shocked by what he saw.

Or what he didn't see.

"There's no one here..."


	5. New Enemies

A/N: **So, um, this is a chapter I got writer's block on... Of course, Ninten': Chapter is the one I can't write. Great :p.**

 **Anyways, thanks for the reviews! They encourage me a lot :)**

 **Enjoy this Chapter!**

* * *

"What do you mean there's no one in there, Ness?!"

Ninten ran up to to Ness, staring in the house. Somehow, Ness was right: no one was in sight, which definitely not normal.

"I mean there's no one in there," Ness repeated. "What else would I mean?"

Ninten walked in the house anyways, not believing Ness fully. Or not believing his eyes fully. Either way, he couldn't wrap his head around the idea that Ness' family was gone.

"They're gone, Ninten," Ness repeated once again, this time with more forcefulness. Behind that, though, Ninten could hear a hint of sadness.

"Why are you so quick to accept it?" Ninten remarked, opening a door. "They could be... hiding, or-"

"There's no logical reason why they would be hiding. If these Starmen — hypothetically — took Lucas' brother, then why not my family?"

"You turn into such a nerd when you're upset," Ninten muttered before walking out of the house. "You're saying that us PSI user's families have been at least taken?"

"Yeah..."

"Wait, that means... Mine is gone too?!" Ninten suddenly exclaimed, realizing what this meant. "You have got to be kidding me," he grumbled. "If this is true, I might just flip."

"You always flip."

"Whatever, Ness." Ninten ran down down the sidewalk to and house and then across the street. Thank goodness his house was right across from Ness'.

Actually, if Ness' theory was true, that was probably a bad thing, wasn't it?

Ninten flew in the house, not bothering to open the door. The place was eerily silent, and Ninten felt a sense of dread rising up into his throat. Door after door was opened with no avail. Even after he knew they were gone, he still thought that somehow, they were here and never gone.

So this is what it felt like to lose your family.

"It's true, Ness." Ninten sighed, quietly closing the door behind him. "They're gone. They've been captured."

"...A-Are you sure the Starmen... D-Didn't kill them?" Lucas asked, looking as more nervous than when they first found him. Ninten had forgotten that the blond was even there: he was so used to just Ness being beside him.

"Lucas!" Ness exclaimed. Lucas flinched slightly. "Sorry... But... I guess I don't want to accept that as something someone would do... Plus, what benefit would anyone get from killing someone they're tracking down?"

"So... D-Do you think someone is controlling them?"

"Probably. Robots — if Starmen are like robots — don't have free minds. Not yet, at least."

Lucas looked at the ground, not saying a word.

"Well... They seem like robots," Ninten muttered, sliding down the wall of his house. He crossed his arms. "What do they want with our families, anyways? If anything, we'd be more useful..."

"That's the point, Ninten," Ness replied. "They want to lure us, or... something."

Ninten scowled. "That's just stupid."

"It's strategy, at least for them."

"If there is a 'them'. It's not like we even know where anyone might be, anyways!"

"...W-Why didn't they take me?" Lucas asked, looking up slightly. "They had the chance, but I'm still here..."

"They took your brother," Ness answered. "He has PSI, too."

"Then why didn't they take me with him?!" Lucas outburst, looking guilty afterwards. Then realization dawned on his face, and he fell to the ground, head in his hands. "Oh, Claus, why..."

Ninten and Ness shared a look of confusion before they realized what Lucas was probably thinking: that Claus had sacrificed himself for him.

Unfortunately, it was probably true. They had no way to disprove it, and it seemed like PSI users were being targeted in particular. Lucas had even been chased earlier. Of course, they had no way to prove their theory either, but it was the only thing they had.

But even they could see that Lucas and Claus were a special case. They were twins who both had PSI. Who were the Starmen targeting?

"I-I'm sorry," Ness apologized, crouching down to where Lucas was. Lucas looked up at him.

"It's not your fault," Lucas replied softly. "It's mine, I wasn't-"

"It's not your fault," Ninten interjected. "It's nobody's fault but the freaking Starmen's. Don't blame yourself."

Lucas only looked like he was going to cry even more. _'Great going Ninten, you suck at this,'_ he scolded himself. _'You should just shut up.'_

"There's a reason they didn't start attacking until you came here," Ness reasoned. "Me and Ninten are both here. It's not just you."

"M-Maybe if I never came here you guys wouldn't be in this mess," Lucas mumbled.

"It's better than doing it alone. We're in this together, okay?"

Ness was always so good at comforting people, or saying the right thing at the right time. Whatever it was, Ninten sometimes wished he could do that. Whenever he said anything he always made it worse.

But now was not the time to be hard on himself, he reasoned.

"Okay..." Lucas nodded shakily, standing up. "I-I think... I might be able to find out where the Starmen are..."

"Really? How?" Ness asked eagerly — just as a child would do — standing right next to Lucas.

"It's... hard to explain." Lucas sighed. "R-Remember when I ran into you? It's because I felt a pulling sensation... I think it was your PSI drawing me towards you... and then it was buzzing... Even now, I feel it because of you two..."

Ness looked amazed.

"But m-maybe I can shut it down," Lucas continued, "and track Claus instead. I didn't notice his PSI before because he obviously hasn't used it for a long time, if he ever has..."

"I didn't know it was possible to track other PSI users. I've never been able to do it."

Lucas didn't respond, only sat down and closed his eyes, likely to be doing that... PSI thing to track his brother. It became silent from there.

Ninten felt so awkward and out of place. Here was a person he "met" only a day ago, and he was making no effort to talk, less he make the situation worse. He was used to being able to say almost whatever he wanted, and now he was too incompetent to do anything: only observed like an idiot.

But he shouldn't be thinking about that... Right?

"I found him," Lucas announced after what seemed like forever. "B-But it feels weak..."

"He'll be fine, okay?" Ness replied, making Ninten feel even more utterly useless. "We're probably too far from him. So, lead the way!"

The blond kid looked nervous, but stood up anyways, walking forwards hesitantly. Ness followed, leaving Ninten behind if only by a foot.

Ninten sighed, standing up. Had Ness forgotten all that had happened? Or was Ninten just overreacting? Knowing him, it was probably the latter. He did that too much. Or maybe he was blowing everything out of proportion.

He shook his head, resigning himself to follow the other two. Whatever the case, they had a long journey in front of them.


	6. New Quest

A/N: **Another Chapter! Not much else to say but enjoy!**

* * *

 _Drop._

Lucas flinched as he felt the tugging sensation get weaker, almost faint and unnoticeable. He tried to focus on the pull again, trying to make it stronger, but to no avail: it kept avoiding him, making him turn corners and double back around. It kept fading, getting farther and farther away until-

"Lucas? You okay?"

Lucas eyes shot open, his gaze being met with the figure in front of him. Ness stood there, a concerned look in his eyes.

"Um, y-yeah," Lucas replied, stumbling over his words. He still wasn't remotely close to being used to other people besides Claus being around him, let alone talking to him. And concern was almost unfathomable.

"Are you sure?" Ness pressed on, not looking convinced in the slightest. For good reason too, Lucas supposed. He was never really that convincing, or assertive for that matter. That was Claus...

"I'm fine," Lucas mumbled, staring at the ground. His mind drifted back to the PSI pull connecting him to Claus, and again trying to reach out to the other end, with no luck...

"...If you say so." Ness still sounded completely unconvinced, but didn't seem to want to ask any further as he turned around and started walking forwards again. Even if Lucas was technically leading them, Lucas didn't consider himself "the leader" and let Ness lead instead. If anything, he would be better at... well, probably almost everything. All Lucas was doing was directing them, anyways.

Speaking of "them"... Lucas was confused as to why Ness' friend — Ninten (Lucas ought to have that remembered by now) — was trailing behind them by a few feet. Ninten had seemed like an energetic person, but now he was staring blankly at the ground, walking forwards without talking to anyone. Then again, Lucas was almost doing the same thing himself, so what right did he have to judge?

"Lucas," Lucas stopped abruptly, startled by once again by his name being called. Ness rolled his eyes at him. "You need to stop staring off into space. What if you get into trouble?"

"Sorry," Lucas mumbled. He always did that, didn't he? He needed to stop it- wait, he was doing it. Again. 'Stop, stop, stop-'

He felt force tackling into him. His breath was knocked out of him as his back hit the ground, barely seeing the thing that hit him. He tried to move his arms to get it off him, but the creature had his hands pinned down. Through his blurry vision he could see something that resembled a dog...

The creature was knocked off him and he was pulled up, being tugged away from the thing. He ran into the woods with the hand still grasping his arm until he saw a tree directly in his path and stopped abruptly, glancing behind him and making sure the creature was gone.

"That was close." Ness sighed, slumping against and tree. Lucas instantly felt guilty: he had got those two into even more trouble, hadn't he?

"I-I'm sorry," Lucas apologized once again, staring at the ground. "I keep getting you into trouble and-"

"It's not your fault!" Ness told him once again. "They're after all of us, not just you."

Lucas continued staring at the ground, sitting down against a tree. A heavy silence ensued from there, tainted with guilt and adrenaline. He felt lost: what could he do to make things better? Virtually nothing.

The ground shook. Lucas glanced up, terrified at what he might see, but knew he had to get the other two out of this mess. He had a feeling it had to do with him, and because it did, that made him bound to face whatever was coming his way. He didn't want people scarifying themselves for him: he wasn't worth it. Nobody should give up their lives just for his.

A robotic creature appeared before him — Ninten had called them Starmen, hadn't he? It surprised Lucas that one creature could make so much noise, but he realized he shouldn't be pondering over that and instead making sure the others would be safe.

To be honest, Lucas didn't know how he always found the resolve in himself to fight. He remembered when he was a kid he rarely even pushed his brother, and now when he had to fight he was scared half to death. It felt like he was always on a tangent, clinging to hope that he would succeed. It never felt comfortable, and he expected it never would.

But before he could even do anything, the Starman was already disappearing. He stared at the spot it had once been, confused, before two more appeared there. Would they keep doing that? He didn't want to find out. Gathering up his courage, he faced the monsters.

"PK-"

"PSI Block."

Small, useless blue sparks came from Lucas' hands before dissolving into nothingness. He tried to feel his PSI inside him, but it didn't work: the Starmen seemed to have blocked it off. He blinked. How was he supposed to do this now? Glancing at the ground, he saw a stick, and thinking that was his best option, he picked it up.

But once he looked back up, the two Starmen were gone, reduced to a pile of mechanical parts. Before the rubbish stood Ness, a determined look on his face.

Why couldn't he do anything?

Before he could say anything, however, something flashed in the corner of his eye. He turned around, and seeing another Starman, began to ran towards it but a flying object hit it before he did. His eyes followed the spinning thing, realizing it was a Yo-Yo wielded by Ness.

And once again, another one of the robotic creatures appeared. This time it was right next to him, and he quickly bashed it with his stick, leaving a dent in the thing, but he knew the Starman would take much more than that. It's face suddenly glowed red, firing off a beam at him, hitting him and sending him backwards onto to the ground.

"Offense Up." Lucas heard someone — Ninten, maybe? — say, and suddenly he was filled with more energy. He stood up and rushed towards the Starman once again, swinging his stick into the dent already embedded in the creature. A hole was formed and it malfunctioned, becoming destroyed leaving behind a pile of mechanical parts.

"They just won't stop, will they?" Lucas turned his head towards the sound of the voice, the source turning out to be Ness. He stood behind another small pile of a destroyed Starman, glancing around, likely on the lookout for more Starmen. "Hey, Ninten, rather not increase our Offense all the time and attack?" Ness asked, throwing his Yo-Yo at Ninten. Ninten caught it with one hand.

"Nice." Ninten grinned. Another flash brightened the air around them, and they turned to see another Starman. "Let's get this one."

"PK Rockin'!" A wave of PSI blasted through the air, destroying the first Starmen that threatened to come near the trio. More appeared behind them, and before Ness could unleash another PSI attack, the Starmen blocked them.

"PSI Block."

"Wha-" Ness looked shocked as his PSI sparkled out, a fizz lasting in the air. Lucas realized he hadn't told them of the Starman's ability to completely block their obviously most powerful asset, and he quickly reprimanded himself for it. He should've told them sooner: now they were stuck without Ness' and his own PSI, and if he remembered correctly, Ninten didn't have any offense PSI of his own.

"Ness!" Ninten shouted, throwing the Yo-Yo out and dented the creatures. "What happened?"

"My PSI, it-" Before Ness could continue, he was hit with one of the Starman's red beams and knocked backwards. Ninten once again hit the Starmen with the Yo-Yo before turning to Ness.

"Life Up." White light flowed around Ness, who rolled his eyes.

"Ninten, I wasn't _that_ hurt-"

"PSI Block."

"But that was gonna happen soon," Ninten pointed out, jabbing his thumb at the Starman behind him. "I had to heal you before I got blocked from it."

"Stop idling or I'll take that Yo-Yo from you!" Ness shouted suddenly, seeing a Starman coming up behind them. Ninten quickly turned around and flung the Yo-Yo at the robotic creature, defeating its already harmed self in on swing.

"Like I'll actually let them happen."

"Ninten, stop talking or we actually might die!"

"Oh, fine." Ninten resigned himself, to attacking a Starman instead, which Lucas bashed afterwards. But more Starmen kept appearing around them, and Lucas got worried once again. There was no way the three, no, two, of them could go up against this whole army of Starmen.

"We can't win," Lucas muttered defeatedly, looking around and seeing the robotic creatures everywhere he looked.

"Oh, maybe we can't," Ninten responded, obviously having heard Lucas' words, and smirked. "But we'll sure try."

Ninten launched into battle mode again, swinging the child's toy like it was a deadly disc. Lucas — although hesitantly — followed suite, destroying the Starmen Ninten weakened. But only a few moments had passed before Lucas was hit with a red beam, and then another one, and once more.

His vision blurred. He tried to get up, but it only made him dizzy, and he flopped back down, sprawled on the forest's floor. He felt himself weakening, and before long the only thing he could hear was his heart beating, slowing.

And the last thing he noticed was the pull connecting him to Claus was fading.


	7. New Person

A/N: **Wooo a Chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

The last thing Ness remembered was fighting the Starmen.

And the first thing he saw when he woke up was walls surrounding him.

The room had barely anything in it, or anything he could see, at least. Only a tiny amount of light came through a small window above him, leaving much to be desired in terms of vision. Although he was pretty sure the room was empty expect for himself, the place still gave him creepy vibes, like something could jump out and attack him at any second.

But what was he here for? He knew they'd most likely been captured by the Starmen, but why would he be brought in a "jail cell" instead of... anywhere else? They probably wanted his — and Ninten's and Lucas' — PSI, but what for? It started to frustrate him that he couldn't find the answer, and he told himself not to do that right now. He couldn't get upset here; whatever "here" was, anyways.

First things first: he had to find Ninten and Lucas. He didn't know exactly how he would manage to do that — he didn't even have an idea, really — but if they were going to get out of here, they needed to find each other. Who knew what was lurking in here, especially considering the fact it was most likely the Starmen that brought them here.

Then a thought hit him; what if they weren't here? What if they were somewhere else? He shuddered at the thought. But it wasn't likely, right? Why would they be different places if they — most likely — were being pursued for the same thing?

He felt like he was grasping at air, trying to find solid ground in the clouds, and inevitably he would turn up with nothing in his hands. He had to stop grasping or else he would be disappointed, albeit it was almost impossible: he wanted answers and his brain just wouldn't stop trying to come up with one.

Before he could continue his pondering — and that's a good thing — he heard a bang outside his "room". Assuming it was one of the Starmen (what else would it be?), he reached for his backpack, and realized it wasn't on his back or anywhere around the room for that matter. He growled quietly: he would have to resort to using PSI if it was a Starman, and quickly if he wanted to actually defeat it. Of course, he didn't want to fight, but the Starman was probably there to fight him.

But a minute passed and nothing came to challenge him. Why had he assumed it would come for him? Nothing was set in stone, he reminded himself. He sighed. Now that that incident was over, he might as well find an exit to this room so he could find the others.

There seemed to be no obvious exit to the room, but eventually, Ness found a handle to... Well, who knows where. It had to be better than staying in the room, and much more productive.

Luckily, he seemed to have exited to the main interior of the place. He guessed from the railings and long pathways, all in monochrome gray and made of steel. He assumed he was in some kind of factory: an eerie one, at that. It was creepily empty, and though overhead lights made darkness impossible out there, it didn't help with the loneliness factor. The bang he heard earlier definitely wasn't helping either.

But enough thinking about that. He had a self-proclaimed mission and he needed to stop getting sidetracked if he wanted to have them all get out alive. Or together. Or even get out at all. Being killed actually wasn't that likely.

"Stop overreacting," Ness muttered to himself, searching through the abandoned corridors. Though there wasn't much to be found... All that there he found were doors that led to more empty rooms. It certainly didn't match up with what he thought was a factory: where were the Starmen? Were they going to attack him? Were they waiting for him to open a door and then ambush him?

The mechanical enemies being absent made him more anxious then he would be scared if they just attacked him. Every little creak of the metal floor made him flinch (so much for being a leader), and the lights flickering on and off only made him more apprehensive.

And his apprehensive was proven right: finally, one of the metallic creatures approached him. It stood a few feet away from him, but that didn't stop him from firing off a psychic attack before it blocked his PSI.

Unfortunately, it seemed he wasn't lucky that day. At least four more appeared in its place, severely outnumbering him, and blocking his most powerful tool. He reached for his backpack again; and again realizing he had no form of defense. He couldn't even throw his backpack at them. He tried to run but was met again by Starmen.

He once again wondered if the Starmen could kill him. It seemed he would find out very soon. He didn't admire that future, but there was no way out.

Until he saw a Starman fall.

It was behind another Starman, but a head noticeably disappeared and never came back up. He heard a few bangs of an object hitting metal before another one of the creatures fell, revealing a figure with a red bandana and a backwards baseball cap.

"I've never been so happy to see you in my life," Ness greeted: well, if you could count seeing your friend beat up a bunch of robots after you were sure you'd be killed by them. He didn't have another word for it.

"Yeah, same," Ninten replied flatly. He tossed an object towards Ness, who caught it and realized it was a baseball bat.

"How'd-"

"No time to explain." Ninten flung a Yo-Yo towards a Starman approaching him, leaving a dent. "I'd rather not die right now, and I'm pretty sure you think the same, so start fighting these things!"

Ness didn't need more explaining. He smashed the Starman with his bat, reducing it to rubbish. He then turned to face another one of the creatures, who fired off a beam and hit his arm. He hissed, but fought back anyways through the pain, denting it.

And another beam hit him while his back was turned. It turned into burning, a strangled cry of pain accompanying it. Were they just lucky the first time they fought the Starmen? Did the Starmen get stronger? Whatever the reason, he didn't like it. It almost felt like it was killing him.

"Ness?" Ninten stopped his fighting and turned to face Ness. His face turned into obvious horror: it was the first time that had ever happened. "Ness, no, why-"

A beam hit Ninten, making him wince. He lashed out with his Yo-Yo, but it barely left a dent in the Starman. Ness could hear an obvious growl.

"I see why the beams hurt you so much," Ninten muttered, then completely changed the subject in his next sentence. "I need to take these out; there's only five left..."

Again, the attack didn't even leave a dent. Ness tried to pick up his bat, but was instead almost blinded by the pain. He needed to help Ninten, he knew that much, but he didn't know how; his PSI was disabled, he couldn't move...

He changed his mind. No matter how much it hurt, he was going to finish the Starmen off. He hissed as he grabbed his bat, but he didn't even care anymore: it could hurt him all he wanted, but it didn't make a difference. He would fight these creatures. He didn't want to be useless.

Suddenly, the Starmen in front of them were caught in a flurry PSI, blue hexagons filling the air. The already-hurt Starmen were destroyed in the onslaught of PSI, reduced to simple piles of mechanical parts on the ground. The hexagons shimmered before disappearing, leaving in its place their summoner.

"...Whoa." Was all Ness could manage out after seeing that crazy amount of PSI. It wasn't every day you saw a blond kid completely destroy some robots that were out to kill you, especially when that kid was thirteen.

"U-Um, hi?" Lucas stammered, his awkwardness more than apparent. "I... I don't know, I-"

"You just saved us," Ness interrupted. "That's enough explaining."

"O-Okay."

Suddenly, the pain returned with a vengeance, and it took him all his will not to cry out. He was sure the pain showed on his face, though, and his suspicions were confirmed a second later.

"Life Up." A white light swirled around him, then faded into nothingness a split second later. Thank goodness for Lucas being able to use his PSI: Ness honestly didn't think he'd be able to go much longer if he didn't get healed. Though he was puzzled as to when Lucas learned that, but decided it would stupid to ask. Or just unnecessary.

"Uh, do we have to do something here?" Ninten asked, glancing around.

"Claus..." Lucas trailed off, staring at the ground. "He's close. His PSI is getting stronger."

"Then let's go find him," Ness stated, and Lucas nodded, pointing to the left.

"It's coming from over there..." Lucas walked off, leaving Ness and Ninten to follow him. They set off on yet another path to — hopefully — their goal.

At least Ness felt calmer now that he had his friends around him. It was terrible being alone in a creepy, desolate factory where he may or may not have been being chased. It felt comforting; as comforting as walking through a dangerous place with two other people could be. He reckoned it was better than being alone, actually, more like knew.

The group suddenly stopped, at the end of a hallway. A single door stood there, and unlike the few other doors, this one was weirdly well kept. Lucas walked forwards.

"This is it..." Lucas murmured, his hand on the door. He exhaled. "It feels strange, though..."

"...What do you mean, strange?" Ness asked. Though seeing a door was rare and this one was without rust, he didn't see what could make it "strange"...

"The PSI behind it." Lucas put both hands on the metal, as if trying to sense everything in the room. "It's... strange. I-It's much different than your's and Ninten's..."

So that's how Lucas had found them at the right time. "Is it your brother's?" Ness questioned after a moment. Lucas' head went down, and a second of silence filled the air.

"...I'm sure it's Claus', b-but..." The blond boy sighed. "I-I... I guess I'm just scared that something... h-happened to him..."

Ness didn't know what to say. Luckily, the person who had said it finished it.

"O-Oh, sorry for... Um, let's go." Lucas opened the door and stepped in.

Honestly, Ness hadn't been more terrified of what laid behind a door in his life. The room gave of a creepy atmosphere — no light, no windows, maybe even no exit — but if it wasn't, then it wouldn't fit in with the rest of the factory. Against his common sense (which he didn't like sometimes) he entered the room, bracing himself for what could happen.

But nothing happened. The room seemed empty. Time stretched out, for what seemed like forever, before something did happen.

"...Claus?" Lucas' voice called out, from where Ness didn't know. "Are you-"

Lucas' voice was cut off abruptly by a bolt of lightning. Ness heard a body fall, and a shriek accompany it before the room fell silent once again. Footsteps grew closer to Ness.

"Wait, no, don't-" Lucas managed out before hissing in pain. "Don't hurt them..."

The thing — whatever it was — seeming to turn towards the source of the noise, in which time Ness used to hit it with his bat. Wasting no time, he got Lucas up, and did the best thing he could.

He ran.


	8. New Unknown

A/N: **So this chapter might be a little bit rushed... sorry. Got sick so I only had so much time to write. Enjoy anyways!**

* * *

 _'Claus?'_

 _'Claus, is that you?'_

 _'Claus, please don't leave me...'_

 _~0~_

The whole world was just fuzz: gray fuzz, blurry movement, and nothing. Lucas could barely feel his limbs, and he didn't know if he was dreaming or not: everything felt so surreal. Footsteps seemed ten times louder than usual. He forget where he was and what he was doing. All he knew was that he was running, leaning against someone for support...

He stumbled, falling to the cold ground. His head pounded, his ears rang. A blurry figure stood over him: it was hard to tell what emotion the person felt. Lucas hoped it wasn't malice.

"Lucas!" The voice echoed in his ears. He couldn't tell who it was, but the voice was vaguely familiar... He tried to grasp an identity in his head, and unfortunately turned up empty handed.

But some of the fuzz cleared away; he could make out a red and blue baseball cap and a yellow and blue striped shirt. Yet Lucas still couldn't put a finger on the person's name...

The figure grabbed his hand a pulled him up. He swayed for balance and almost toppled over again, and luckily, he fell into a wall. He shook his head, finally getting rid of all the fuzz.

"Ness...?" The name finally came to mind, but he forgot why he was there. And who was Ness anyways? "What are we-"

"No time to talk." Ness cut him off, dragging him forwards. "We have to get out of here."

"But who are you?"

Ness stopped, eyeing Lucas curiously. "You don't remember?" Lucas shook his head.

"Amnesia," Another person stated, whom Lucas recognized as Ninten: well, just the name. Funny how he could remember names but nothing else. "Getting hit by lightning probably would do that."

There was silence for a moment.

"...Hopefully Lucas' memories come back soon," Ness responded, looking ahead in the hallway.

"I-I know you're not dangerous," Lucas replied; maybe it was his way of comforting. He always had made himself slightly calmer when he knew something wasn't dangerous, although unfortunately that didn't happen often.

"That's always a good thing." Lucas could see a small smile on Ness' face. It eased the blond's nerves a little bit, even if he still didn't fully remember who they were.

But he could finally remember why they were here; they were searching for Claus. Did they find him yet? Why couldn't he feel his pull anymore?

"It's also a good thing to stop freaking standing here and find an exit before that thing comes back." Ninten cut through Lucas' thoughts. "Or-"

A metallic thud echoed through the hallway. A flash of light lit the air just a few feet away from them, but nothing came around the corner. A few seconds passed and still nothing happened.

Except for what seemed like lightning crossing the corner.

"I hate whatever this thing is," Ninten muttered, backing from the spot where the bolt had fizzed out. "Uh, we should probably go."

But of course, that didn't happen. A giant door slammed shut behind them, like a garage door (the part unlike a garage door was the fact there was no button to reopen it). The lights dark. And silence surrounded them.

Ninten growled. "Does everything I say have to be contradicted?! ...Well, actually, whoever or whatever you are, you can't contradict that!"

"Ninten shut up!" Ness hissed. A huff came in response.

More silence, for better or worse, surrounded them. Lucas was confused as to what the "thing" was; was it really that life-threatening? Well, it probably was, but... What did it look like? Did that lightning have anything to do with it?

Okay, that was a no-brainer. Of course it did.

But wait: didn't Ninten say he got hit with that lightning? And that's why he lost his memory for a while?

Oh, what was going on? This had to be the worst time to solve anything ever.

Lucas was jolted back to reality when a flash shot right past his face. He stood stunned for a moment, before he heard footsteps coming towards him. Luckily, they weren't hostile; a bit of light from PSI revealed Ness standing in front of him.

Though Lucas didn't really notice — or maybe even care — that much. He was staring off into the darkness in the direct those lightning bolts came from. Were they even lightning bolts? He didn't care about the classification: that's what they looked like, and looked plenty dangerous if they hit.

"A-Are we going to die?" He asked no one in particular. The risk seemed too high, but there was no way to back out. He felt almost felt like giving up. But he realized that if he died... then he would never be able to find Claus.

Before a response could come, a bolt seared through the air, straight towards Lucas. He dodged it narrowly, but another one still came towards him. He didn't know anything defensive he could do... Could offensive counter offensive?

It was his only hope.

"PK Love." The hexagons sprouted at his hand and he sent them forward into the lightning. Instantly there was friction, but it was gone within a second; the shimmering PSI passed through the bolt. It even found a figure that might've been shooting off the electricity but the hexagons passed right through it.

Wait. PK Love didn't hurt that person?

For a second Lucas felt a strange connection between him and that person, like he had known them. It felt almost personal, like maybe they were friends.

And then it was gone. And instead of lightning coming for him, it was PSI.

Lucas wanted to defend himself once again, but he had obviously used too much PSI that day; his vision was getting fuzzy again and his legs grew weaker by the second. But he summoned up all the strength he had for his wish, for one last chance at survival.

 _'I just want to see Claus again.'_

With that thought he sent off the last of his energy to the person in the other side attacking him. The PSI coming towards Lucas was no match for PK Love; it went right through and neutralized the other PSI in the process. Something fried — what, Lucas didn't know — but it seemed to affect whoever or whatever was attacking them because it stopped.

The light came back on. A figure was hunched over on the ground, clutching an arm. But Lucas barely noticed; his exhaustion took over and he fell over. He felt feverish. His limbs went numb.

His face fell towards the floor. But the last thing he noticed before he hit the ground was the fact the figure across from him had orange hair.


	9. New Time

A/N: **Yes! Another chapter!**

 **Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

Three years was a long time to have memories lost. And three years was a long time to wait just to see your brother again.

Those three years had been spent on an endless mission: for what he didn't know. He'd been sent to location after location, but nothing ever happened. Nothing ever changed.

Except for his memory.

He forgot why he was on this mission. He forgot who he was. He forgot his name, and was only classified as a "thing". He didn't know who he was before this mission started. He didn't know if he even was a person before it started.

The factory was more or less his home when he wasn't assigned to do anything. When he did have to do stuff, that's the only thing he knew existed. It didn't bother him that he didn't know who he was, what he was, and who he was before it. That didn't matter to him. All that mattered was doing these missions.

But then he got hit by the "PK Love"... And he started to remember.

The person who's PSI hit him had a name. His name was Lucas. He had known Lucas before all this happened. He'd been an orphan with Lucas, traveling from city to city to stay safe.

Lucas was never the best at scavenging, or living on the streets in general, but he always looked forwards to something. He always looked forwards to the next city, or it was what would happen in the end. Lucas had always wanted to go to school, and he thought once he was old enough to get a job, he would save up and go to Highschool. Of course, Highschool didn't cost money; it was the food that would. Or maybe Lucas knew it didn't but still was waiting until he got a job, just in case.

His own name... was Claus. He was Lucas' twin brother.

He stopped fighting. He wasn't going to fight his own brother; after all, it'd been three long years since he saw him. He started to move forwards, but his legs suddenly gave out. He fell to the ground, surprised by the pain. Why did it hurt? He hadn't felt real pain in a long time. Maybe he just wasn't used to it, but it felt like it was consuming him...

But then it was gone as soon as it came. His vision cleared and the lights came on; it felt like too much of a coincidence about the lights going back on and off, but he ignored it. He had Lucas back. He never realized how much he missed his brother, especially since he couldn't remember him. He couldn't imagine Lucas being separated from him for three years.

The second he looked up, however, he was met with hostile eyes. A boy with a red bandana and red and blue hat glared at him, standing a few feet away with arms crossed. Claus couldn't see Lucas from where he was. Was everything just a hallucination?

"He looks like he'll kill us any second," The boy with the bandana commented, looking over his shoulder to someone else. "Should we just leave him or...?"

"Isn't he the person we're looking for?" Someone else replied. Another person came into view: he also had a cap, but a blue and yellow striped shirt and no bandana.

"Why are you looking for me?" Claus shot back, glaring at the two. He thought nobody even knew he existed; plus, what importance did he have to anyone?

"Uh, your brother has been trying non-stop to find you," Red bandana kid stated. "So... I'd suggest not killing us."

"I'm not going to kill you," He replied, rolling his eyes. "To be honest, I couldn't think before. I'm only talking now because I have a conscience again."

"...What?"

"Never mind." He sighed. "Where's Lucas?"

A quick look was shared between the two other teens before an answer was given by red hat kid.

"Right behind us." They split to reveal a blond-haired boy, sprawled out on the ground. "I guess he got exhausted from fighting you. Which... I don't know. That's weird, I guess? That you were-"

"Fighting him. I know," Claus interjected. "That wasn't me. I was controlled. And I've been that way for three years."

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess..."

"I'm not going to kill anyone, for the hundredth time."

"How do we know for sure?!" Red bandana kid suddenly exploded, glaring once again. (He really needed to calm down, Claus thought). "I mean, you were just fighting us for crying out loud! How-"

"Leave him alone," An immediately recognizable voice interjected. Claus turned his head towards Lucas, who stood right behind need-to-chill bandana kid. "He's not going to attack anyone."

A warm smile spread across Lucas' face, and for one second Claus felt special, like he actually belonged somewhere. Like he wasn't supposed to be in this mess, but somewhere else. And he had found that place.

That feeling was replaced with surprise the next second as he was tackled by a blur of blond hair, arms thrown around him.

"You're alive!" Lucas seemed like he was about to jump around in joy. "I thought you were dead but you're not!"

"Um, I can see that... Can you get off me?" Claus asked, feeling more awkward than when he was "being questioned". He'd never been the touchy-feely type, not even when his brother hugged him... That more or less made it worse.

"I guess is only has been two days..." Lucas trailed off, letting Claus go and staring at the ground. "I-It's not that long of-"

"Wait. Two days?" Claus asked, raising an eyebrow. Lucas nodded.

"You were missing yesterday and today we woke up here..."

"It's been three years, Lucas. Three years."

It was Lucas' turn to look confused. His eyes said "Are you okay?", which Claus responded with the same exact look. Neither broke the stare before Lucas spoke again.

"How could it have been that long without me noticing?" Lucas asked himself, obviously distraught. "I only remember the past two days..."

"We're not sure it's been three years," Red bandana kid cut in, now sitting on the ground against a wall. "I don't remember three years. Neither does Ness."

"Do you think I could get this in a day?" Claus held out an arm, the one that had been replaced with a metal cannon straight out of fiction. Claus himself wasn't even sure what it was; well, he probably knew before he lost his memories. "Don't think so."

"U-Um... what is that?" Lucas asked, glancing nervously at the metal contraption. Claus shook his head.

"I'm not even sure myself."

"Alright..." Lucas seemed to shudder just looking at it. "W-Well, do you think it's possible that it's been three years for you but two days for us?"

"What?" Three years for him but two days for everyone else... How was that possible?

Well, maybe it was. With the mere existence of PSI might come weird side effects... like this. After he was taken away stuff might've happened.

"Well... Maybe," Claus continued. "I guess it's possible."

"Does that mean you're three years older than me?!" Lucas asked, looking terrified. "How can we be twins if you're three years older than me?!"

"I was already older..." Claus murmured. "Also why is that-"

"Um, hey," Red bandana kid interrupted once again. "So I think we might want to go soon, because Starmen are about to chase and kill us."

Metallic sounds echoed from the hallway behind them. And although Claus didn't really like the two other people Lucas was with, he decided to trust them just this once. If Lucas was with them, they couldn't be that bad, even if one had exploded at him.

"Alright," Claus agreed, standing up. Looking to Lucas (who had a look of slight mortification on his face) he added, "I'll explain everything later, okay?"

Lucas nodded. He stood up, looking around as if he was scared something might come out and attack him. "I don't remember where the exit was..."

"That's why we run through hallways," Red hat kid interjected. "Let's go, now!"

Nobody needed anymore explaining. They were off in a split second, trying to find a way out through the maze of hallways. They never seemed to get a lead on an exit, always backtracking and looking through suspiciously familiar corridors.

"I think I found an exit!" Red bandana kid yelled. "Just around this corner!"

The group turned to a door. Red hat kid tried to open it, but couldn't, seemingly because it was locked. Claus shoved him out of the way. He could open this... somehow. Right?

A second later a burst of lightning struck the door. The door opened to the dark outside world. It took only a second before they were all out, hastily locking the door behind them again.

"I cannot believe I'm actually alive," Red bandana kid broke the silence.

"Yeah..." Lucas replied, noticeably smiling although it was dark. "I'm glad we're alive."

And then Lucas promptly fell over. Claus rushed over to his brother, who happened to be both passed out and burning up. How Lucas managed to get a fever Claus didn't know, but obviously it was serious enough to make him faint.

"Is there anywhere to hide so nobody will find us?" Claus asked, trying to pick up Lucas. He was surprisingly light.

"Well, we can look," Red hat kid replied. "It's the only thing we can do."

"Alright." Claus picked Lucas up, trying to make it so Lucas wouldn't wake up. Actually, it didn't seem to be much of a problem; Lucas must be out cold.

Lucas always fell asleep so easily. Claus wished he could do that sometimes.

"There's a small cave over here," Red hat kid called. "Don't know why, but there is..."

It took only minute for all of them to relocate to the cave. Claus stared at the outside world; trees and bushes.

How did it take only a few minutes for his life to be changed so drastically? Was it for better or worse?

No matter what happened, he knew it would take a while for him to get his answer.

He wished he could find out sooner.


	10. New Problem

A/N: **Sorry these last few Chapters have been kind of late! I've been kinda clutching them out...**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Ninten had no idea what to do.

Being stuck in a cave — which, by the way, happened to be suspiciously convenient — was not his idea of fun. Granted, they were kind of just resting, but still. They didn't know if this place had traps or not. Or if now Starmen were waiting outside to kill them.

Actually, Ninten highly doubted that. Starmen would probably capture them, not kill them. If anything, that orange haired kid had the highest chance of killing them.

Then they might actually be safe for once in the past two days. Or... three years? He didn't know, didn't really care.

But for once new person didn't seem dangerous; at least not when all they were doing was staring worriedly at his brother. Ninten kind of felt bad for yelling at him the day before. He only yelled because he was scared — as stupid of a reason as that was. He almost wanted to apologize.

But then the orange-haired kid (Claus was his name, right?) would send a cold glare at Ninten, and all his courage would disappear as he awkwardly averted his eyes. Why did "Claus" have to be so cold to them? It was usually much better to stick together, especially with their theory of PSI users being hunted.

...Of course, Claus didn't actually know any of those things because he wasn't with them. Why did Ninten think they were still on a "journey" anyways? Everything would probably return to normal after this. Or how it was before he met the twins.

But his family was probably still missing. What was he supposed to do about that?

...Not that there was much to do but wait. All there was outside was trees, trees, and more trees. What was he even thinking that he could be some kind of great hero? There was no way that could happen.

He didn't think he could save anyone anyways. He didn't have any offense PSI, for goodness sake. He would need someone to help him, and it's not like Ness or Lucas would agree to go on a death mission. He barely even knew Lucas. And he didn't want to ask his best friend to risk his life for him.

Having no offense PSI kind of sucked, especially when you tried to do... well, basically anything to a.) help anyone and/or b.) do something for yourself. Not such a great situation.

He was kind of useless, to be honest.

Before he continue his (according to himself, pointless) thought-rambling, something shook. More accurate: the cave shook. For a second his mind raced with (very bad) possibilities, then remembered that, hypothetically, nobody wanted to kill them. Was that comforting? Not really, but at least-

"We're not going to die," Ness suddenly interjected, looking directly at Ninten. Ninten stared back, somewhat incredulous.

"I-I never _said_ we were going to-"

"Your face says differently."

"W-Well." Ninten sighed. "Don't you think it's suspicious that we're right next to that factory that's filled with Starmen that were trying to kill us?"

"That-"

"And this cave is oddly convenient?"

Ness seemed to give up trying to fight Ninten as he rolled his eyes. "Okay. But I think you're just freaking out too much. It could've just been a stray earthquake-"

"Really? An earthquake here in all places?"

"Okay yeah, stupid idea." Ness shrugged. "I was just trying to get rid of your paranoia."

"I'm not paranoid." Ninten walked to the entrance of the cave. Luckily, there seemed to be nothing there. Yet. "Well, I guess we're safe for now. There's nothing there."

"We're fine. Really. And yes, you are paranoid."

Ninten simply shook his head. "Whatever. I'm checking out there."

"Wh- Wait a second." Ness grabbed Ninten's arm. "If you're going out there, I'm coming with you."

Ninten sighed. "Alright. Hopefully we don't meet something trying to kill us."

"Paranoiiid."

"I'm not!"

"Anyways." Ness turned back into the now-suspicious cave. "Is-"

"I'm staying," Claus (that really was his name, right?) replied, his voice flat and monotone. His face said "Get out of my cave", which wasn't right since it wasn't *his* cave. Actually, Ninten changed his mind. He could think that all he wanted. The cave was probably cursed or something anyways.

" _Ninten_ , let's go." Ness pulled Ninten's arm, making him stumble outside the cave. Ness ran, and Ninten followed after him, more confused than he had been in the last few days. Suddenly, Ness stopped, Ninten slowing behind him.

"What the heck was that for?!" Ninten yelled to Ness. "You're gonna give me an asthma attack, I swear!"

"And _you're_ going to get yourself killed," Ness replied, walking back to Ninten.

Ninten had thought he couldn't get more confused. Well, he was wrong.

"What do you-" He started, but Ness cut him off.

"I thought the air was going to explode the way you two were glaring at each other."

"I was glaring?"

"For a minute, at least. How do you not notice that?"

"Uh..." Ninten stared at the ground. "Okay, if I was glaring, it wasn't for a minute."

"It felt like forever."

"But it wasn't actually forever!"

"Seriously, Ninten." Ness crossed his arms. "Don't make him hate us more than he already does."

Ninten sighed. "...Fine. But I really don't care what he does," he added, muttering.

"Ninten, I really mean it! We don't know how much longer they'll be with us. And it's not good to make enemies anyways."

Ninten didn't respond; instead, he stared at the ground, silent, reminded once again of their dilemma. Their family was still missing.

He didn't want to think about it.

"Let's go," he finally replied, walking forwards. Then he stopped. "Wait, where are we?"

"Near the factory." Ness appeared beside him. That was one of the things Ninten liked about Ness: no matter how much they yelled at each other, they never became any less of friends. Seriously, Ninten was sometimes surprised Ness was still friends with him. "It should be riiight- Found it!"

Ness disappeared through the trees, and Ninten followed (through apprehension). And what would you know; the factory was actually there.

"I remembered a path." Ness grinned.

"Thank goodness you did, because I still don't know where we went to get here." Ninten stared at the factory. "So... What do we look for...?"

"I thought you would know."

"How would I-?"

"Because you're paranoid?"

"I'm not!"

"You know what? Let's just go in the factory." Ness walked off once again.

"Wha-? No! That could kill us!"

"I think that's called... _paranoia_." Ness smirked. "Plus, this was your idea."

"I hate you," Ninten mumbled before following Ness into the factory. Luckily, there seemed to be nothing at the entrance. That didn't exactly help on the eeriness, but oh well. You could only expect so much from an already creepy, now suspicious factory filled with robotic creatures that either wanted to kill or capture you.

Ninten had wished that they wouldn't take a long time in factory. Well, he was wrong. There seemed to be actually nothing in the factory. So an earthquake was starting to look like the answer to the cave shaking problem. He wasn't happy with that answer because that still left the factory open to suspicion, but then again if it was the cause was the factory it became very suspicious.

Great.

Ninten suddenly froze. Something had made a weird creaking sound, and it wasn't them. He glanced around a corner. And of course a door hung open, if just barely.

"Why," He muttered, going back around the corner. "There's a door open. Great great great great great. We are so screwed-"

"You said there's a door open?" Ness asked. Ninten nodded. Ness walked around the corner. "Then let's go check it out."

"What?! No! That's the most stupid idea you've had all day!" Ninten rushed after Ness, but it was already too late; Ness was in the room. Ninten ran in after his friend, and froze once again as the door closed behind them.

And then the floor dropped out.

In those few seconds, Ninten realized a couple of things. First of all, the doors had been unlocked. And they just waltzed right in without questioning anything. Second thing was that they had been set up so easily. What was wrong with them?

Third: they were huge idiots.


	11. New Danger

A/N: **Sorry this is late and short! And I'm also sorry about how rushed the last chapter was...**

 **I've decided to take a small break from this story. I will be writing it while I'm gone. I won't update next week but the week after that I'll go back to regular schedule. In other words, this story will be back on March 20.**

 **Thanks for understanding and enjoy the chapter!**

"We need to go."

...Was what Lucas tried to say before he realized what he said sounded more like "Vi nelb tm glom". It wasn't even loud enough to be considered something he said; more like mumbling. Incoherent mumbling for that matter.

"What?" Lucas turned his head towards the voice, though it took a second to recognize their face; apparently, turning too fast after you woke up made you dizzy and disoriented. The person turned out to be Claus.

And suddenly the memories of yesterday resurfaced; about the factory, the Starmen, and just finding Claus... All of it seemed like a dream. Maybe even a miracle. An impossible miracle.

But then again, psychic powers were impossible, weren't they? Starmen, the capture, whatever the creepy thing was that happened to now be Claus' arm... All of it, completely, impossible.

It took something impossible to cause an impossible miracle.

"Hey!" Fingers snapped in front of Lucas' face, making him jump a bit. "Finally," Claus mumbled. "I thought you were going to pass out or something."

"No, I'm fine," Lucas replier, staring at the ground. "But they're not."

"Uh... What? You're not delirious, right?"

"Claus, _we need to go_ ," Lucas insisted despite his brother's incredulous stare. "They-"

"First of all," Claus started, cutting Lucas off, "who's they?"

"Ness and Ninten. They're... I don't know how to explain it, but they're in danger."

Claus was silent for a few seconds. "So that's their names... How do you know this?"

"A... I-It sounds stupid..." Lucas sighed. "A dream. I can't explain it, it was just a... a suspicion? I can't remember it well, I just..."

"You know stuff like that isn't possible."

"But this... psychic power thing isn't possible. But it happened. So maybe this is possible too."

Neither of them spoke. And the silence stretched out for what felt like forever before a sound was made.

"Sorry," Lucas started. "I guess I just-"

"Fine. Let's do it," Claus interrupted, though he didn't seem happy about it.

"O-Okay." Although it was stupid, Lucas was surprised at how quickly Claus agreed with him. Well, maybe it wasn't stupid to be surprised; Claus never really liked Ness or Ninten or... well, anybody besides Lucas after the Tazmily incident. Lucas shook that out of his mind. "Maybe I can get a psychic pull from one of them..."

Lucas tried to find either one of their "psychic pulls", but all he found was emptiness. Did something happen to them? Or was he not strong enough? It was probably a combination of both, he realized rather ominously.

"I... can't find them," Lucas admitted dejectedly. "Do you think-"

"We'll have to find out." Claus stood up. "We don't really have a choice, do we? If we don't go, those Starmen things will probably come after us next. They're dangerous, right?"

"...That's one way to think about it..." Lucas stared at the trees outside. "Where did they go, though?"

"I have no clue. Probably that factory, considering that fact they're in trouble or something. And then we'll be in trouble."

"No matter what we do, it's dangerous," Lucas realized. Then he added quietly, "I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I knew the options and didn't try to help."

"Well, I guess you won't have to go through that. Let's hurry up if we're going to do this. Even though it's almost entirely hypothetical and we have no evidence that this is actually happening." Claus muttered the last part.

"I know you probably still don't trust them, but..." Lucas sighed. "They helped me find you over the past few days. H-Honestly, if it wasn't for them, I would've never made it to you. I probably would've died trying. So if nothing else will make you change your mind, just consider this as a returned favor. Please?"

"Alright. Fine. But never again, okay?" Claus crossed his arms. Lucas nodded. Well, at least he convinced Claus. Somewhat. It was a start. "We're losing time. Let's go."

And like that, they were running, out of the cave and hopefully towards the factory. It was hard to miss, though; a giant building in the middle of a forest kind of stood out once you got close to it. It didn't take long before they were already at the front door of the place.

"It's unlocked," Claus noted, pushing open the door. "So either they opened it or we're walking into a trap. Or both."

"It doesn't matter," Lucas replied, staring directly into the darkness of the factory. "Either way, it's dangerous. We have to at least try to help them."

Lucas walked in to the ominous place. Half the problem was done; now all they had to do was find Ness and Ninten. A lot easier said than done. The factory seemed like it went on forever...

And then he saw a door. An open door.

"U-Um, Claus?" Lucas pointed to the suspicious door. "I think that might be where they went."

"This is all just a giant trap," Claus muttered. "We're supposed to go there, aren't we?"

"If it's set up or not, we still have to check it out." Lucas walked forwards. "We don't really have a choice."

Claus sighed. "You're right. Unfortunately." Claus walked up to the door and looked in it. "Whoa, what the heck happened here?"

Lucas ran over to the room and gaped.

There, where the floor should've been, was a giant abyss.


	12. New Trap

A/N: **This is short and late and rushed... Im so sorry. I promise, the next Chapter will be better. This is the only story I'm working on right now so... Hopefully I live up to expectations.**

 **Please enjoy anyways!**

* * *

So maybe running into a room with an open door wasn't a good idea. Especially when the floor fell out below you.

But it's not like Ness had a choice.

If he had been in control of himself — however weird that sounded — he would've chosen not to enter that suspicious room, trust him. It was really outright stupid to do so. But why he entered anyway, he didn't know. All he remembered was trying to make his legs not move, to stop.

What was happening to him? Was he crazy? He probably was, know that he thought about it.

Then again... Maybe it had something to do with whoever/whatever could be controlling the Starmen. Though that was probably just a random, maybe hopeful thought. Having something to blame it on might be what he wanted. A scapegoat, really, to blame for his stupid behavior.

Nobody liked to admit they lead themselves and their friend to certain death.

But... that wasn't what happened when they reached the end of their fall. They slowed down suddenly, something that was definitely not normal. It felt like, somehow, time slowed. How was a completely different question.

"...I can't believe we're alive," Ninten uttered after a few seconds. Ness was suddenly overcome with guilt at the whole ordeal; they hadn't died, but had sure come close to it.

And it was *his fault*.

"I'm sorry-" He started, but was immediately cut off.

"It's okay. It's kinda my fault, I made us come here..." Ninten trailed off, and though it was hard to see him in the dark, Nes could tell he was staring at the ground. "Yeah... It's my-"

"Not it's not," Ness rebuked. "I entered this room, my stupid self, I knew it was obviously a trap but I couldn't stop it-"

"Whoa whoa whoa... Wait what?" Ness could hear footsteps coming closer to him. "What's 'it'?"

"I... I don't know. Probably a scapegoat I made up in my mind," He muttered darkly.

"Yeah, maybe, but I also know crazy stuff like freaking *psychic powers* exist, so maybe you're not making this up." Ninten plopped down beside Ness. "So, what crazy thing happened this time? Besides the fact we're alive, of course."

"Well... It was like something was controlling me. I kind of blanked out without totally losing my conscience..."

"Okay, that's creepy." Ninten shuddered. "Don't tell me any more. I don't want to think whatever we're... 'fighting' against... can possess people."

A silence stretched out. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable; just them trying to take everything in. Trying to take in being close to death multiple times. Psychic powers that now magnified more in their life, stuff that shouldn't exist. A very unexplained time paradox. And somehow still being alive. Everything. Everything a normal thirteen year-old never experiences or should experience.

"...Are we even fighting something?" Ninten asked after a while. "What are trying to do from this..."

"We're supposed to get our families back, right?" Ness answered. "This is the best explanation we have for what happened, and the only lead... Let's not doubt ourselves, okay? That'll make things worse."

"You're right." Ninten stood up. "Let's find out where the heck we are. And then maybe later we can feel sorry for ourselves."

"We can't lose hope," Ness responded, looking steadily onwards into the darkness. "No feeling sorry for ourselves. Let's look for an exit."

Truth be told, it was a lot harder to search for an exit in the dark than, well, the *light*. That was really obvious. But you would think that with PSI it wouldn't be as hard. Well, you were wrong. All Ness and Ninten could do was search blindly on the walls with their hands, and so far, Ness hadn't found anything suspicious.

And that was partly do to his mind wandering off to what he had said earlier. He had said to not lose hope and basically to push onwards. But he kept doubting himself: what right did he have to say things like that? He was no leader; he was just a thirteen year-old like everyone else with the exception of psychic powers. And he had been talking — well, more like giving orders — to his best friend who also happens to have those same, weird powers. Did Ninten really believe him anyways?

Well, almost falling to your death but then, somehow, being saved had to do something to your brain.

His (admittedly depressing) thoughts were cut short by Ninten yelling for him to come over and see something. Though it was hard to walk in the dark, he made his way over somehow.

"I found a handle," Ninten blatantly explained. "Oddly convenient."

"And that's the only thing in here," Ness added. "So..."

"We're stuck in here unless we want to probably die." Ninten sighed and slid down the wall. "Yanno, I'm starting to hate the person who designed this place."


	13. New Confrontation

A/N: **An one-time Chapter, but way too short for my liking. I need to get back in the swing of things. Sorry**

 **Enjoy Anyways!**

* * *

Lucas only stared at the giant chasm in front of him. How could such a thing exist? It looked way too, well, "professional" to be a kind of construction area or the like. No jagged edges, no rocks... Just a giant, disturbing hole.

"...Well," Claus stated. "That's disturbing."

"We need to find a away down there," Lucas replied, still staring blankly into the abyss.

"What? No!" Claus exclaimed, shock evident in his voice. "No, we're *not* going down there. We-"

"They're probably down there."

A silence stretched out. Lucas knew his brother didn't even remotely care for the two, but he had to at least try. He couldn't just leave them there. They would...

"Fine." Claus sighed. "But just this once. Then we need to-"

"Go, I know. But where would we go?" Lucas let another silence hang in the air for a few seconds, even if he felt a twinge of guilt for interrupting like that. "We have nowhere to go," he added quietly. "We don't have to leave."

"...It just makes me apprehensive," Claus muttered. Lucas instantly knew he wasn't meant to hear that so he acted like he didn't hear anything. "So how are we supposed to get down there?" Claus asked, staring down the abyss.

"I don't know," Lucas admitted dejectedly. "But have to find a way. We'll find a way, right?"

"We will if we try," Claus replied simply. "Though I don't have a clue how we're supposed to get down a who-knows-how-deep abyss without dying."

Lucas walked around the hole. "Maybe... there's another way down there? I don't know, maybe a door or something. A staircase down."

"There's a door over here." Lucas walked over. "Hopefully there's nothing behind here... I still don't see why you want to save them so much. We don't even know they're down there for sure."

"Where else would they be?" Lucas stared at the door's handle, debating whether it's be a way down or some kind of trap. "We have to at least try. We can't do anything else anyways." Exhaling, he opened the door, relief following through him as he found a staircase.

And adrenaline spiking when he heard an alarm going off.

Heart pounding, he flew down the stairs, not even stopping when he heard his brother shout behind him, likely about the risk that he was doing this all for nothing. He somehow didn't even care about that at the moment. Somehow he didn't care he could be risking his life for two people he had known for three days.

Maybe he just didn't want to be alone again, wandering the streets with nowhere to go. He wanted to have other people he could know for the first time in years.

It was incredible luck that there happened to be a door at the bottom of the staircase. Panic increasing, he shoved the door open, only to be met with a blast of PSI. The light from the psychic abilities temporarily showed two familiar faces, to his relief. He closed the door, hearing the psychic powers dissipate before he opened the door again.

"Ness?! Ninten?!" He called out over the blaring alarm system. Luckily the two heard him before they attacked again.

"Lucas?" Ness responded, confusion evident in his voice. "How are you-"

"I don't know, I got lucky I guess?" Lucas sighed. "But we need to get out of here before the Starmen start attacking us!"

"Okay, you're right." A second later the two were running up to him. "How'd you get here?"

"This staircase." Lucas pointed behind him, starting to walk up the stairs.

"Oddly convenient," Ninten commented. Soon they were all up the stairs, but there was one problem.

The alarms were off.

No more flashing red lights. No more blaring sounds.

Just the eerie silence of the room.

And a suddenly blast of PSI.


	14. New Safety

A/N: **So yeah, finally an one-time, decent Chapter.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Ninten found himself questioning — once again — why he'd thought it was a good idea to come in here.

So okay, maybe that whole earthquake-next-to-a-suspicious-factory thing was a bad idea. Especially when they had almost _died_ in there, and he, of all people, didn't want to die. But he went in there anyways, and of all things, brought Ness with him.

It was his own fault that there were about to die yet again, for the third time in about a day. And he couldn't even do anything to help, as he was armed with no weapon (well, if you could call a bat or a Yo-Yo a weapon) and no offensive PSI. Completely, utterly useless.

He told himself to shove the guilt away. He couldn't be doing that _now_ when they had to get away from here.

But dread replaced the guilt; what if there was no way out? What if they were really trapped this time? There was no they were stronger than this... thing — probably a Starman — if it could produce this strong a blast of PSI. And there was no guarantee that they still wouldn't be stuck here even if they defeated that thing.

Maybe that door in the chasm could bring them to safety... Even if it was a huge risk. The doors they came through were probably locked, but just maybe...

There'd be no way back up if they closed the one-sided door that brought them up here. There was no handle on the end in the chasm. So if they went through the other mysterious door in the chasm and there was nothing there...

Well, they were screwed.

Another shot of PSI went through the air; one that he barely avoided (as if his adrenaline levels weren't high enough). He glanced around in darkness, trying to find Ness before something ended up happening to him.

And it would still be _all his fault_.

"Ness?" Ninten dared to call out, his heart beating faster. Hopefully Starmen couldn't see stuff; oh please let them be blind. But then he realized a second later they probably had infrared if they could see so accurately in dark-

Ninten, _stop_! You'll get Ness killed, not to mention yourself.

He saw another blast of PSI, but this time it wasn't a Starman; he instantly recognized as Ness'. He ran over to the place where it came from in the darkness, finally seeing his friend's outline and a sense of relief flowed through him. Like he actually did something useful for once.

"Ninten?" Ness asked, surprise and relief evident in his voice. "Thank goodness you're alive."

"I'm not going to try to die that easily," Ninten replied nervously. "Let's get out here before we actually do."

"But how...?"

"No time to explain. But it has to do with that door in that chasm we were stuck in."

"That's not-"

"Safe? I know. But what other way do we have? Now let's go before we get hit!" Ninten grabbed ahold of Ness' arm, dragging him along with him as they ran toward the staircase. But Ness suddenly stopped.

"Where's Lucas?" Ness asked, staring off into the darkness. Dread rose inside Ninten once again.

Oh, _no_.

"Did the Starman get to him, or maybe..." Ninten rambled, nervousness mounting. Ness fixed him with an odd look.

"Starman? If it was a Starman it would've disabled our PSI by now..."

"Then what the heck is attacking us?!" It was official: Ninten was scared to death. He took a breath. "We need to help him."

"Already way ahead of you." Ness walked forwards, hands out in front of him as if they could protect him; probably true with his psychic abilities. "We have to hurry," he added as he started running, Ninten not far behind him.

Because even if it was someone he barely knew... he wasn't going to let them die.

PSI once again flashed in the area; this time blue in color. It's response was another one of those near-blinding blasts of PSI, and Ninten found himself wondering who or _what_ could create something that powerful, let alone that bright.

He heard another shout and PSI came out from Ness, who was probably hoping that his burst of PSI went towards the attacker. Ninten saw another one of those crazy attacks come right towards them and he put up a PSI Shield before he ran off to find Lucas, hoping somehow they'd make it out of here alive.

They had done it before, so why was he doubting himself now?

A figure came into view; a shaking, frozen one. He slowed down, stopping right next to Lucas. _'And this is where I do not shine,'_ he grimaced.

"Lucas...?" He asked tentatively, almost jumping when the blond boy whipped his head around, tense. Then Ninten saw Lucas relax, if only slightly.

"It's you." Lucas sighed. "I-I thought... Never mind." A split-second paused ensued. "Do you know where Claus is?"

Oh.

"No..." Ninten almost hated telling Lucas the truth; it made fear appear on him. "B-But we'll find him, okay? We-"

A blast of PSI came in their direction. Ninten barely had time to put up another PSI Shield before it hit them, and the shield itself was almost not even strong to, well, _shield them_.

"Well, we need to go," Ninten finished, grabbing Lucas' arm and dragging them over to the staircase. Lucky for them, Ness had the same idea and met them there.

"Okay, so I know this is a far fetched plan but we need to get down to this mysterious door down in that chasm we were stuck in," Ness explained to Lucas, who gave Ness a confused look. "Yeah I know but we need to go!"

Ness suddenly pushed them into the staircase and closed the door behind them, exhaling. Ninten gave him an odd look.

"We were about to get hit," Ness replied. "Let's go."

Nobody argued, despite the blank look on Lucas' face. Ninten felt bad for him, and useless since he couldn't do anything to help. He was laughably bad at comforting people and — though he wouldn't admit it — he was scared to death once again. The chasm gave him the creeps and he felt like that someone or something was still following them.

"This is it." Ness held the handle of the door. "Let's hope it doesn't kill us."

Ness turned the handle and entered the room. A few seconds later he called for them to follow him, saying it was safe. Ninten sighed with relief as he stepped in to the room, even if the fact it was dark didn't ease his nervousness. They were safe.

At least for now.


	15. Capture

A/N: **Another short Chapter :/ Sorry! It's pretty of a set up. I'll get them longer**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Ness stood still as the tried to take in the dark place. This was all way too convenient, yet there seemed to be nothing there... He couldn't accept it was just _there_. Not after what just happened and what they'd been through.

And especially with his friend's lives at risk.

He walked around the room, looking for any reason not to stay, but he couldn't find anything. Plus, he was close to collapsing on the floor, and he was sure the others were the same. So much crazy crap had happened in the last hour or so his mind was having trouble keeping up.

He slumped down against a wall, a small, temporary sense of peace washing over him. Even if they were in unfathomable danger, at least they got to relax for a second.

"So, how long do you think before we almost die again?" Ninten asked, sitting down next to Ness. Ness shrugged, giving a small smile.

"I don't know," Ness admitted. "I'm hoping we don't almost die again."

"Good idea." Ninten crossed his arms. "I guess I spend too much time thinking about that. I think I'm starting to think it's normal." He laughed nervously.

"At least we don't spend not enough time thinking about it."

"True... I just wish this never happened."

"That makes the two of us."

"I mean, why us? Why does this stuff even exist?"

"I try not to think about the reason; I just try to cope with it." Ness sighed. "But I really hate not knowing why."

"Of course _you_ would." Ninten grinned. "At least one person is still normal."

"...I'm not really normal. More like slightly."

"Better than I'm doing. I'm like... I don't know, I don't feel like myself...? I hate this..."

Before another word could be spoken, a crash reverberated throughout the room. Ness jumped up, his earlier weariness instantly forgotten. He knew the safety wouldn't last forever, but this soon...?

"U-Um, there's Starmen here," Lucas exclaimed, wide-eyed. "W-What are we..."

"We're not going to fight them," Ness explained. "We're going back the way we came from."

"What?! We can't do that," Ninten started, shaking his head. "We might..."

"But we can't stay. We have to leave, _now_."

"...Alright." Ninten sighed. "Better than fighting. Let's go."

Then they were off, hoping against reality that they were going to be okay. Ness knew it was probably the worst idea ever, but the other choice — at least, in his mind — was inevitable and certain death. He didn't really have a choice.

And a thought occurred to him: that was probably the point, wasn't it? To put them in a situation where both outcomes would most likely lead to capture or worse. He didn't know why someone would want them so badly; did it have to do with their PSI?

Of course it did. Why else would they be in this mess?

They turned, facing towards the door out of the room. They had just reached the top of the stairs, looking around for any signs of Starmen, but there was nothing. Still, Ness didn't feel relieved. He rushed towards the door, hoping it was unlocked, and to his relief it was.

He didn't care at the moment that it was way too convenient, especially considering the events that had just happened not even an hour ago. He just wanted to get his friends to safety. To get them out.

"Ness, don't!" Ninten shouted. "What if-"

"Just get back!" Ness yelled back, determined to get them out. He ignored Ninten's protest once again; he would get them out of there. He *needed* to.

Ness opened the door. For a second, nothing happened and a false sense of relief flowed through him.

Then a beam hit him, and the world went dark.

 **0o0o0o0**

 _'It's my fault.'_

That was the only thought repeating in Ness' head. He could see nothing, and hear nothing, either, but whenever he tried to move, something held him. It wasn't physical; maybe it was PSI? But he had no idea how that would work...

He felt immensely guilty for what happened; if he hadn't been so hasty, they wouldn't be here. Even though he had no idea where they were, he knew that Ninten and Lucas would have to be somewhere near him. That's what happened last time, at least. Hopefully whatever was trying so hard to capture them didn't learn from last time.

He wished he didn't have to do this. He was actually wishing he could go to school instead of going on this dangerous quest. But now he was here, so he would do it. Even if all of this was strange and felt like a dream (or nightmare) at times, he couldn't let anyone down.

Now he just needed to come up with a plan.


	16. Hope

A/N: **Wow! I actually finished a Chapter a day early! Finally!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Lucas stared in shock as the beam hit Ness. Usually, it would've just been scary when someone got hit, but this time, it seemed like the beam trapped Ness, lifting him in the air and then disappearing. That was... disturbing, to say the least.

But what was more important in his mind was figuring out where Ness went. He couldn't have of just... _died_ , could he? No, that's not how it worked, right? People couldn't just...

"Lucas!" Lucas looked up, seeing Ninten in front of him, and obviously urgent look on his face. "We need to get out of here!"

"B-But what about..." Lucas started, but stopped as he saw Ninten's urgent face turn into a sad one for a split second.

"Ness would want us to go," Ninten replied simply, turning towards the door. "There's an opening now. Let's go."

Lucas didn't object, running after Ninten, his heart pounding in his chest. He knew there was Starmen chasing them, probably about to do whatever they did to Ness, but his mind wasn't focused on that. All he could think about was _'How could he disappear like that?'_. He told himself over and over it wasn't possible for him to be dead but... the more he thought about it, the more it seemed to be the only possibility. Starmen couldn't just _teleport_ him, right?

He wanted to say Ness wasn't dead for certain. He wanted to know he was alive. But he couldn't.

And Ninten thought Ness was dead. His best friend, _dead_. Lucas could see that it wasn't going to be easy. He knew it wasn't.

Losing even one friend feels like the end of the world. He learned that after the Tazmily incident. Losing Ness felt bad too, even if he barely knew him.

Wait.

Claus was still gone.

 _He still didn't know where he was._

Lucas' heart stopped once again, almost stopping dead in his tracks. But he didn't. He wanted to stop, go look, but he knew he couldn't.

It was the second worst feeling in the world, to need to do something but front unable to. And combined with the first, it was unbearable.

He was expecting something else to go terribly wrong, like to meet a dead end or to get captured by the Starmen, but for once, nothing like that happened. They made it out into the world, still drenched in sunshine and green as far as the eye could see.

It felt like a stab in the heart. Cruel, way too cruel to be bright and happy after everything that just happened. Harsh. He couldn't think of words strong enough to describe it anymore, but it hurt. It _hurt_ , it felt like it was consuming him. _Agonizing_ : that was a word.

But he forced himself to go on, in complete and utter silence. No matter how much it hurt, he wasn't going to have Ninten involved in this. They both had enough to worry about. He wasn't going to make it worse.

After a couple minutes, Ninten stopped, Lucas doing the same. They stood on the edge of a forest, overlooking a cliff; not far enough up to seriously hurt you if you fell but high enough up to give a view of the area.

Unfortunately, it confirmed that they were for sure in the middle of nowhere, scared and hungry and tired. Honestly, Lucas couldn't remember the last time he ate or drank anything.

"So," Ninten started, sitting down on the ground and sighing. "That happened."

Lucas just nodded, unsure of what to say. He didn't want to upset Ninten, or himself, so all he did was sit down next to a tree across from Ninten, staring at the horizon.

He wanted everything to go back to normal; whatever normal was. Maybe it was them not knowing each other, or maybe it went as far back as the Tazmily thing never happening, or PSI not existing. He just wanted everything to be okay, perfect, even if perfect was impossible.

"I... don't know what to do." Lucas turned his head to Ninten, who was staring at the ground. "Maybe you do...? Never mind, that's a stupid question," Ninten chastised himself.

"...Maybe I can find Ness' PSI." Ninten looked up at Lucas' voice, and Lucas could see a faint glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Really?" Ninten asked.

"I've done it before," Lucas replied. "Ness' PSI was the first PSI I tracked. But on accident, when my PSI was first noticeable to me."

"Nothing cool like that happened to me." Ninten gave a small smile. "Oh well. See if you can find it, okay?"

Lucas nodded, needing no more explanation. No matter how dim the hope was, it was still hope, and he needed it. He searched out, trying to find it, but as the minute passed it felt like he wouldn't be able to-

Wait.

A faint trace of PSI was buzzing in his head. He could barely hear or feel it, but he immediately latched on to it, relief flowing through him as the buzzing continued.

"...Did you find it?" Ninten asked, anxiousness apparent in his voice. Lucas nodded, and Ninten relaxed, obviously relieved. "Thank God. I thought he was dead."

"So should we follow it now? It goes that way." Lucas pointed to the right, but lowered his hand as Ninten shook his head.

"Nah. I don't think I can go much farther." Ninten sighed. "We need to find a city to rest in. I'm starving."

"Can we even get food?"

"Yeah. I have some money. Not much, but it'll do. As much as I would like to go directly after Ness, he would say that it's stupid to do that because 'It's not safe'."

"It isn't."

"I know. Anyways, do you have any idea where a town could be?"

Lucas stood up, standing on the edge of the small cliff. Even if he couldn't see much, it was enough to let him know the best direction.

"Unfortunately, it's away from Ness," Lucas stated, pointing to their left. "There's a lot of forest to the right, and if Ness is there, they wouldn't make another factory like that next to a city."

"You're right. As much as I hate it." Ninten walked next to him. "Everything has to be so inconvenient, doesn't it?"

"It's wouldn't be smart if it wasn't." Lucas gave a small shrug. "It's a lot different than stories. I mean, actually going on this crazy journey."

"I wish it was like a video game. Then there wouldn't be so much going through my mind." Ninten looking at the ground, then glanced back up. "But enough talking about our problems; let's get to this city then get Ness back."

"Sounds like a plan."


	17. Stuck

A/N: **I've been writing short chapters lately... Bleh. I'll try to get them longer.**

 **Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Ninten stared at the horizon, wishing that somehow, a random town would appear on it. Maybe even just a house they could rest in, hopefully abandoned. Just something that would give them a break from walking.

He didn't know how long it'd been, but however long it had been, it felt like an eternity. He didn't know how much longer he could hold up, and he could tell just by looking at Lucas that he must be feeling the same effects. Ninten didn't know how he himself was standing and walking.

But then he remembered why they were still going; to find somewhere safe to regenerate and then save Ness. That was why he was still going, still walking even after all that had happened. He would never forgive himself if Ness got hurt because of his selfish actions. It would be like leaving his friend to die.

He would never do that.

"Ninten!" Ninten looking over to his left and he saw Lucas running and pointing off in the distance. "Come here!"

Ninten ran off after Lucas, earlier tiredness forgotten for the moment. Widening up in front of them was a sign that read "Twoson", and a town opening up behind it. Ninten grinned.

"We actually found a town," he stated, amazed. Lucas nodded, for once that sad and depressing look off his face and replaced with what looked like hope.

"We can do this," Lucas whispered, almost to himself. "We can actually do this."

"Well, let's get food first. And then rest. Boy, am I hungry."

 **0o0o0o0**

Ness tried to wrestle his way out of the PSI containing him, but nothing worked. Whatever was keeping him trapped, it worked too well. All he wanted to do was get back to his friends, but he was getting nowhere in this escape. What had caused this? Certainly not the Starmen; maybe they had teleported him, but there was no way they could trap him. They seemed more like attackers to him.

Then _what was going on_?

At least he had time with his thoughts.

He had decided that it was a thing that had trapped him. What kind of person had power like this? He only knew three other people with PSI and none of them would do this.

Speaking of them... The more time that went by, the more worried he got. Where were they? Were they even near him? He still held on to the fact that surely, they would come for him (if he didn't come first), but what if...

What if they were _dead_? What if they couldn't come for him?

What if they were trapped somewhere with no way to escape just like him?

He shook his head, or as close as he could come to with his psychic restraints. He couldn't be thinking about that, he just needed to find a way out, then find them. Save the worst for later, because if he didn't, he'd never find a way out of there.

It was hard not to, though.

He tried to at least open his eyes but growled as once again he couldn't. Stupid, _stupid_ restraints. He felt helpless, like a prisoner. He _was_ a prisoner, wasn't he? No amount of PSI seemed to work either.

But he still couldn't accept that he was stuck. He couldn't be trapped, right?

Oh, of course he was. Who was he trying to fool? He was trapped, scared and alone. For who knows how long.

He was trapped.

It filled him with anger, thinking about being trapped, being a victim. He could feel tiny spark of PSI flow out of him, only to be fizzled out by the psychic keeping him stuck. All he wanted to do was just see his friends. Was that really that hard?

Hey, wait a second. Could he maybe... overflow the psychic restraints?

He'd tried it before, but that time had been different. He'd tried to use a PK Rockin', which didn't work so well, as whatever was keeping him trapped seemed to drain and absorb his PSI: for what, he wanted to find out, along with many other things about this whole mystery. But the main point was that the restraint didn't immediately make the little spark of PSI go away; it had to touch the shield first. Or whatever it was called that was keeping him trapped. The tiny bit of PSI probably didn't seem like a big deal, or it flew under the radar, unlike a big blast of PSI.

So maybe, if he concentrated a bunch of those small sparks of psychic energy on one spot, it'd break the shield.

It was a farfetched idea, but it was all he had. Because maybe his friends were in the factory somewhere and they needed his help. So he started carrying out his plan, and little by little, he could feel the shield dwindle in power.

Until a hole opened up. And that hole kept spreading until he could feel no PSI around him.

He immediately opened his eyes, welcoming the freedom at last. Finally, he was out of that miserable trap, and could get out of here. Wherever he was, he knew it wasn't somewhere he wanted to be.

The only problem was he was in a pitch-black room with seemingly no way to escape. He got up, feeling the room for an exit, but there was nothing. No handle, no lever, not even a small door.

There was nothing.

So this it, then? He was really trapped? No explanation, just alone in a room with nothing but his own thoughts?

But then a speaker came on, static first, then a voice.

"You'll stay." The voice was eerie, yet vaguely familiar. "Because you're my friend, right?"

Then the PSI enveloped him once again, and he crumpled to the ground, completely drained. And the world went black once more.


	18. Again

A/N: **Another short Chapter... rip.**

 **Hope you enjoy anyways!**

* * *

Once again, it was a terribly bright day.

Normally Lucas could be happy about something like that; after all, they'd been moving around from city to city for some time now. But then he remembered there was no "they" anymore. Claus was gone, to who knows where. Maybe it had to do with that thing he said was controlling him. Whatever it was, it still hurt. It didn't matter who took him or what happened, it still hurt to not have his brother next to him. Three days was unbearable: how was he supposed to manage for longer?

He was staring at the ceiling when he felt someone shake him, obviously that someone being Ninten with the facts as it was. Trying to get the empty look that he was sure that was in his eyes to go away, he looked at Ninten, who stood with a small smile on his face. It was apparent that he too was trying to be happy.

"Let's go," Ninten stated simply. Lucas nodded. Saying more just didn't seem right. Lucas was used to being in silence, so it didn't bother him that much. They walked out of the hotel and glanced around the town of Twoson.

"Which way?" Ninten asked, and Lucas remembered he was supposed to lead the way. Lucas grasped ahold of the psychic energy once more, feeling the familiar buzzing in his head. It led to the right. Lucas pointed in that direction and lead the way, even if it was awkwardly.

All that really mattered was finding Ness at the moment. Lucas didn't care how far they had to travel; they were going to get him back. Maybe he'd do something useful for once. Even if he had no idea where they were going and even less of an idea about how to save Ness, he'd do it.

Because it had been forever since he'd had another friend. And he wasn't going to give up on him any time soon.

Though traveling didn't seem to be going well. No matter how far he went, the buzz never got stronger or louder, and it was starting to worry him. Maybe it was because it kept getting weaker and he kept going forward so it only seemed the same, but that only made the worrying worse. What was happening to him? Lucas didn't want to think about it. There was too many possibilities, and all of them were bad.

Suddenly he was forced to come to a halt. They were caught at another cliff, only this time it went down smoothly into a small chasm. The ridges of the chasm didn't even seem to be hard to climb once you got down.

But for some reason, Lucas had a terrible feeling about it. Like something was going to attack them, or the chasm was a cleverly set up trap.

Maybe that explained why the buzzing suddenly disappeared.

"What is this?" Ninten asked, walking to the edge of the cliff. "We were walking through a flat area and suddenly a giant cliff appears outta nowhere..."

"I-I don't know, but it's not good." Lucas sighed. "Ness' psychic pull disappeared."

"What?!" Ninten nearly shouted. Then he looked at the ground, taking a deep breath. "Okay. Alright. Okay then. He's fine. He'll be alright... Okay, how do we get there now?"

"Maybe it was something to do with this chasm. It feels... off." Lucas kicked a rock down the side of the chasm, watching it bounce all the way down and roll to a halt. "Why would it be here exactly when Ness' psychic pull disappears?"

"Good point. Okay, so we start looking. Best chance we've got. Alright."

Ninten started down the cliff. Ninten probably didn't know he could tell, but Lucas could see that Ninten was trying hard to keep it together. Lucas was too; there was just too much stuff that had happened in the past days to process. He stumbled down the cliff after Ninten, hoping that there would be something that led them to Ness.

Luckily, there was. Ninten motioned him over, looking at a hole in the slanted ground.

"Maybe this is some kinda tunnel," Ninten theorized. "It has to be something, why else would it be here? Right?"

Lucas nodded. Though the tunnel was barely big enough for them to fit through, it would work. "We can go through it then. It's our only hope."

"Don't remind me," Ninten muttered before crawling through. "It seems fine. C'mon through."

Lucas crawled inside the tunnel, trying to refrain from feeling claustrophobic. They were doing this to find Ness; he couldn't get scared now. They would find him. They would.

Right?

Suddenly Ninten disappeared from in front of him. Lucas felt his throat close up with fear. He tried to yell but nothing would come out. Instead he started forward, faster than before, but was only met with a drop in the ground and him sliding forward, terror threatening to overtake him.

Finally he hit ground, much to his relief. Though it didn't help that it was dark beyond belief. He couldn't see a thing.

"I'm so glad you two could join us." A voice boomed, static filled their voice. Lucas assumed it was from a speaker. That only creeped him out more. "Say, would you like to join Ness?"

"What?!" Ninten exclaimed. "Where'd you-"

But Ninten never got to finish his sentence. A beam of light started charging up in front of them: and they couldn't move. They were frozen.

"Hope you have fun." The voice said, and the beam hit them.


	19. Escape

A/N: **Decent sized Chapter (for me, at least rip). Finally!**

 **Enjoy!**

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Why couldn't he do a thing right?

First, _he_ — the freaking genius Ninten — was the one who found that freaking tunnel, so it was _his_ fault that they were wherever the heck they were. All he knew is that they were trapped, and it was because he was an idiot and rushed in without thinking.

He should've been more careful.

Now he got himself _and_ his friend trapped, with no way out. And they couldn't even find Ness because they were trapped. Freaking trapped.

Great going, Ninten.

But amidst the anger, he felt a melting pot of emotions. Guilt for getting his friends into this mess. Fear about what would happen to them. And most of all, disappointment.

Disappointment in himself. Disappointment that he failed. Disappointment that he couldn't be more useful. Disappointment that he couldn't do anything right.

They were going to die because of him. What a great friend he was. And to top it all off, he had _no idea_ how to avert it, even slightly. Not even for a minute. Every other time he had at least some idea, and of course those mostly came from others. Why couldn't he be independent? Of course when others needed him he couldn't help them...

No, wait. He couldn't think like that. Ha. Ness would probably tell him something like "we can do that later" or something. And he would definitely say that they had to get a plan out of here.

So that's what he was gonna do. Get a plan, get his friend, and get out.

All he had to do first was to find a way out of... whatever this was. Some psychic energy thing that didn't let him move. He tried to think of some way to break it, but every time he tried to use PSI, the thing just sucked it up. He hoped the energy wasn't going somewhere bad. Maybe it was used to make those Starman thing.

Shut up! He couldn't be thinking about that. Not right now; the stakes were too high. He just needed to find Ness. Find Ness. Get out and find Ness.

What would Ness do...? Surely he'd find a way to overpower these restrains. If he had been stuck in these things he had probably found a way out and got recaptured or something. Ninten tried to think of something, but nothing came to mind. He couldn't move or even open his eyes to see what was around him. PSI _had_ to be the way out; there was no other option.

He tried breaking the restraint thing again, but this time focused more what happened when he did it. And it helped. He felt the psychic energy fizzle out once it touch the restraint thing. So maybe, if he stored it all up without touched the restraints and then let it all go...

He channeled all the psychic power he could fathom near him, letting all the anger he felt help him. For a few seconds, he kept like that, hoping the thing wouldn't absorb it. And then...

Boom!

"Heck yeah," he murmured to himself as he watched he psychic energy fade away, like shards of shattered glass. "Okay, next thing. Find Ness."

He finally looked up, trying to take in the room but then realized the room was completely dark.

"Okay, change of plans," he whispered. "Find way out of creepy dark room."

That was easier said than done, like most things were in the past few days. Once again, he had to find his way out of a dark room; it was starting to get traumatizing at this point. Dark room after dark room brought misfortune. He forced himself not to think about it. He could when he got Ness out. They would be safe then.

He finally found a handle, and debated whether he should turn it or not. Last time it set off an alarm... but he couldn't go anywhere if he didn't. Maybe if he ran fast enough...

No way. It could put Ness in danger...

But so was every passing second. Every second, his best friend was getting closer to a possible death. Death.

He couldn't be contemplating the risks. He just had to _do it_.

Taking a breath, he pushed the door open, relief flowing through him when no alarm went off. He only hoped that the alarm wasn't silent. Fueled by that thought, he nearly ran down the halls, the only things keeping him from not running was the darkness and the fear Starmen would find him. Oh God, he hoped that wasn't the case. The halls freaked him out enough; a battle would make it unbearable.

He felt along the wall, praying he would find a handle, but to no avail. What would he even do anyways if he found a door? He didn't know what would be on the other side. Dang, he wished he could do that psychic-tracking thing Lucas could. It would make this a whole lot easier.

Oh crap. Lucas. He completely forgot about the kid since he was so focused on getting Ness back.

He had no time to think about that as his hand hit a wall, signifying there was a corner. He was about to turn before he saw a faint glow at the end of the hall, and he more or less freaked out. He walked back from the corner and went to the other side of wall so he could be hidden. What the heck was that? He looked around the corner once again and practically had a heart attack as he saw the light was coming closer.

Did Starmen usually glow? Because this one seemed to. And it was coming right for him.

A Ninten with no weapons and no offensive PSI. He was screwed.

He took a breath to stabilize his heartbeat. He would run around the corner as soon as it came. Maybe it was blocking something. Maybe it was Ness. His spirits were lifted for once as he held on to a glimmer of hope. He could do this. He had to.

The light finally crossed the corner. Installs it saw him, and started to charge up who-knows-what. Probably to capture him again. But he wasn't going to happen. Not again. That was the last time he made that mistake. He was done with that.

And so that's why he shot off to the right, going around the metallic creature and running. He dared a glance over his shoulder and saw the thing was still charging up the beam. Heck yeah.

But then he became confused as the thing was _still_ standing there, doing practically nothing as he could see a door, leading hopefully to Ness.

Maybe it was a miracle. Whatever it was, he was accepting it.

He stopped at the doorway, wasting no time and pushing the door open. There was a glow of that psychic restraint thing and Ness was in it. Breathing a sigh of relief, he went over to Ness, only then wondering how the heck he was supposed to get him out of there. He touched it, hoping maybe something would happen, and to his surprise the psychic energy melted away.

Well, that was one way to do it.

"Um, wha-" Ness started, then seemed to see that Ninten was sitting right in front of him. A grin lit up his face. "No way."

"Yeah, I found you," Ninten responded, happiness surging up within him. He did something, for _once_. He actually did it. "We need to get out."

"That's a good idea." Ness stood up, seemingly dizzy for a second before shaking his head. "Did Lucas come with you?"

Oh yeah. Ninten had forgot about him again.

"Yeah... We kinda need to find him. Oh, and Starmen are probably looking for us, so let's hurry." Ness nodded in response, and they both darted out of the room, hoping nothing would find them. Suddenly Ness stopped.

"It's a door," Ness briefly explained before wasting no time and opening the door. Another person in a psychic restraint was sitting up against the wall. Ninten ran over and disabled it, still confused about how that worked but not pondering it. It worked, so that was cool.

"We need to go," Ninten stated, getting up and making sure Lucas followed suit. "Before they realize we've escaped."

"Let's run," Ness added, turning around and doing so. The two others followed, hoping Ness knew where to go. Maybe there was a window that showed the outside world.

There had to be a way out.

After a full minute Ninten was started to lose hope. Maybe there was no exit. Maybe they were trapped here forever.

But then Ness turned and found light. He opened the door and they ran out, relieved to finally be out. They had avoided death once again. Somehow they did.

Ninten couldn't focus much, a myriad of emotions preventing him from questioning their escape. He couldn't question why it was so easy, and he couldn't question by what miracle they survived.

Instead, he sat down in the grass and just stared, relieved that they had lived.


	20. Thoughts

A/N: **Chapter 19! Enjoy!**

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Lucas felt anything but relieved.

He was elated that they found Ness, and happy that the two remembered him and came back to find him. He thought they would for sure leave him there. And when that got outside, amidst the darkness, it was a feeling like no other.

But that feeling had long since worn out, and Lucas was starting to get anxious. That went all too smoothly; no alarm, nothing chasing them now, nothing. What made it even worse was something now starting to nag at him.

It was a voice inside his head. It wouldn't go away, no matter how hard he tried. He didn't know if it was his inner self or his real self, but it was going haywire. He didn't know what to feel or think, so he just felt empty. They succeeded but... what now? They still didn't have...

"You okay?" Lucas was brought back to reality by Ness. Lucas nodded.

"It's just... confusing." He looked at the ground, but no further questions came. He didn't feel like talking. He didn't feel like doing anything. But he didn't feel like doing nothing.

He felt like he was just... _there_.

He knew eventually they would have to rest but he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts. Right now there were people next to him, walking. When they stopped, he knew he'd be alone with the darkness and the thoughts and the dreams he didn't to hear or see. They were too much.

He felt broken.

Part of him wanted to cry but the other part wouldn't let him. He didn't want to seem tough or anything, he just couldn't. He'd gone through too much. Maybe he just couldn't process it all so fast.

He was empty. Why was the world like this? He didn't want to think those thoughts but he couldn't help it. He wanted to force himself to stop but he couldn't. He was helpless.

"Seriously, are you okay?" Ness asked once again. Lucas looked up at him, and Ness frowned. "None of us are fine. It's okay..."

Lucas felt his eyes burn. "I-I don't want to burden you," he resigned himself to saying. He felt anything else would make himself cry. "Let's just keep going."

Ness stared at him before walking onwards. Lucas was too quickly back in his thoughts to see the sympathetic look thrown back at him, or how obvious it was that Ness didn't want to just leave but realized that he couldn't press him to do anything, or that both friends were concerned for him. He was too busy trying not to break down. If he did that to his friends... he would never forgive himself. They didn't want to hear his sorrows; they deserved to be happy now that Ness was back.

But as time went on, it became harder and harder to hide his inevitable breakdown. He was lucky that nobody noticed before it was night, and they laid on the edge of the forest. The night sky was littered with stars, and the moon was full, but he didn't care for it as he used to. It only felt like another stab in the chest, another reminder that the last thing connecting him to home was _gone_. His brother was gone, and he was scared to death he would never get him back.

He silently cried himself to sleep.

 **0o0o0o0**

"So, where do we go now?"

They were sitting in a circle in the early morning; it seemed none of them could sleep long. They all looked worse for wear, and though Lucas thought Ness should be tired, having been captured and all, Lucas himself felt and probably looked like crap. He was still empty, emptier than before. He hoped the others didn't see.

"There's a town we found," Ninten answered Ness' questions. "I think... it's east? Yeah, it's east. I remember where the sun was when we left."

"Resourceful," Ness commented. "We can eat there, right?"

"If I have any money, which I don't. Already spent it all. Not such a good idea..."

"Doesn't matter." Ness whipped out an ATM card from his pocket. "Got this the day before... well, everyone disappeared. I was planning on getting some stuff for my mom and then I didn't, then forgot to give it back... Anyways, we can use this. I'm surprised I haven't lost it yet."

"Sweet! Then it's all set, right? We can get to Twoson and decide what to do from there."

"Sounds like a plan." Ness stood up. "I hope it isn't too far."

"Shouldn't be. We came here from Twoson."

The two started to walk off, Lucas following after them, too absorbed in his thoughts once again to hear them talking or to see them glance back at him just to make sure he was there. He had nothing to say, anyways. He shouldn't bother them with his feelings.

They deserved to be happy.

 **0o0o0o0**

The plane roared, but nobody noticed it. After all, the plane was on its way to a mountain; nobody lived below them. Only two people stood in it, if they could be called people at all.

A helmet covered the first's head, only showing one eye. The other was only there to make sure the plane flew to the Masked Man's destination.

Neither of their minds could hold very complex thoughts, each for different reasons. The pilot feared to think that much. Whatever they would think, there were told not to. He couldn't think about what the reason was for, but he knew the punishment was probably worse than wearing a pig suit around all the time.

The Masked Man, as he was dubbed, didn't have the ability to think much. He could only think about the mission he held; to pull the Needles. Pull the Needles, destroy anyone who gets in his way. He couldn't think nothing more nor nothing less. Everything else was meaningless.

A white light came into view. The plane slowed down, shaking as it came into contact with the snow. Finally, the pit opened, letting the Masked Man do his mission. A quick salute from the pilot and the Masked Man was gone, walking towards the Needle. Chimeras ran around, but didn't bother him; they knew well enough not to.

The glowing Needle came into view. Although it was tiny, only he could pull it. It took only a second before it was pulled from the ground, disappearing into thin air.

One down, six to go.


	21. Expectations

A/N: **This is a little more lighthearted... probably because I was writing it at ten :p**

 **Anyways, enjoy?**

* * *

Twoson was not what Ness was expecting.

When they said they had found a town, he was expecting some kind of rundown place, being near a factory and all. But Twoson... Twoson was kind of nice. It felt cozy, if that could describe a town. It was almost like Onett, except less busy. Like a town where everyone knew everyone and new people were welcomed with open arms.

It was quiet, which was nice after all that had happened.

Ninten showed him the way to the hotel, which was exactly where he wanted to go. He just wanted to sleep comfortably for once. Plus, there was nothing else to do, or anything he wanted to do for that matter. They booked a room, somehow without being questioned why three teenagers wanted a hotel room or why they had the absurd amount of money to do so, but Ness didn't care.

Day turned to night quickly; it had taken them a while to get to Twoson as they had walked in the opposite direction of the town. It was dusk when they got in their room and promptly passed out.

It was midnight when Ness awoke to a scream.

It wasn't particularly loud; not loud enough for Ninten or Lucas to wake up. Maybe Ness heard it because he was closer to the window, or maybe it was because he had better hearing. Whatever the reason, it seemed he also had good eyes because he saw the faintest flash of light from outside the window.

He knew he should probably stay out of it, but... it would bother him for at least a year if he didn't do anything.

So he quietly opened the window (going out the front would probably get the room revoked or something) and climbed out, jumping down carefully. He was happy they had first floor.

Another flash came from in front of him; this time, he could see the the light was red and a silhouette of what was almost definitely a Starman and a person.

So the Starmen were chasing them. They would have to leave in the morning.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he rushed forwards. He couldn't think about that right now. It's not like he wanted to be any hero or something, but... well, he was known for having curiosity. A lot of it. And if it led him into someone in trouble, his mind told him he had to do something. He had seen it, anyways. And that would make him responsible for anything that happened to that person.

He finally got to the fight. The Starman fired a beam, and a flash of red responded to it. Wait, not light... fire? But whatever he was planning to do was thrown out the window as the metallic creature was destroyed.

So much for doing anything.

"Um, hi." Oh frick. No. Why. Someone was talking to him. Or, um, a girl was. He had no problem talking to anybody else... or he hadn't had problems talking to people for a while. Or ever.

So he kind of just stood there dumbly for a second before once again realizing "oh god he had to talk".

"H-Hi." He finally looked at the girl; blonde hair and a pink dress. "U-Uh, what were y-you doing here?"

At that the girl looked down. Ness wanted to die on the inside. "My parents work at a preschool. They went missing, so I'm in charge of it for now. One of the kids ran away, so..."

Well. Ness didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't that.

"I can, um, make sure the thing doesn't come back i-if you want. Walk with you." God, he was so awkward. He was completely sure that this girl would give him a look like "what's _wrong_ with you?", but she didn't. Instead she gave him a smile.

"Thanks." She turned around and started walking, and Ness was sure this girl's kindness was going to give him a heart attack. He thought he'd weird her out or something. Or scare her. And then it'd be awkward.

And maybe he wanted to meet new people.

"May I ask who are you?" The girl asked, bring Ness out of his thoughts. Gosh, he was spacey right now.

"Ness. T-That's my name," he clarified, for some reason or another.

"Paula," the girl responded. She stopped. "This the place. Thanks for walking me back."

"No problem." He sheepishly smiled. "Bye."

"Goodbye." Paula disappeared, leaving Ness feeling a bit lonelier. Not like he expected her not to leave. He didn't have a problem with it either, it would probably be the only time he saw her. He started walking back to the hotel, hoping nobody noticed he was gone.

He climbed through the windows and gracefully fell face first onto the bed. At least he didn't make a bang. He started closing the window when a voice made him freeze.

"Where were you?" Ness turned around, seeing Ninten staring at him. Ness felt panic rising within him.

"Uh, I don't know?" Ninten rolled his eyes.

"Really Ness. What were you doing?"

Ness had never been really good at lying. "Um, so there was this scream so I looked outside and there was a Starman attacking this girl so I went to help but the girl defeated the Starman and I walked her back? And I just realized she has PSI. Oh crap. And her parents went missing. So *that's* why there was a Starman..."

Ninten blinked. At least he had been Ness' friend for so long he was probably used to it. "Ooookay. So...? You met a girl and it's love at first sight?"

"No! What the heck Ninten?!" Ness probably would've shouted louder and hit Ninten with a pillow if they weren't in a hotel with someone else sleeping in the room. "You know I'm awkward around new people. At least when I'm by myself."

"Yeah, but..." Ninten started laughing and tried to suppress it. "It's hilarious."

"Whatever Ninten." Ness sighed. "But seriously, now that I'm back here... we have to save her."

Ninten stopped laughing. "Wait, what?"

"Did you listen to what I said?" Ness tried to be mad but then realized he was rambling when he mentioned that part. "Never mind, you probably couldn't understand what I was saying. Anyways, she has PSI. It was a Starman she was fighting."

"Oh yeah... You mentioned that. What are we supposed to do, though?"

"I don't know. Can't believe I didn't notice it before, though."

"Not your fault. You just met a girl in the middle of the night."

"Ninten-"

"You were probably super awkward."

"Shut up."

Ninten started laughing again and fell back onto the mattress. "We can figure this out in the morning, if you want. When you can think straight."

"Good idea." Ness laid down in the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Midnight planning usually doesn't go well."

"Or, yanno, it could be because of that girl."

"Ninten!"

Ness sighed as Ninten once again laughed at his misery. His friend sometimes. He closed his eyes as sleep began to overtake him, seemingly realizing what he had just been through at midnight.

It didn't take long for him to pass out.


	22. A Distorted World

A/N: **It's seems like I do this every other month... but honestly I need another break so I can make better Chapters. Sorry. I'll be back July 3rd!**

 **Enjoy this Chapter for now!**

* * *

"No plan... Sounds like a good plan to me."

Ninten grinned as Ness gave him a face like "I would beat you if you weren't my friend", and then "Actually, I don't care". Ness' face was pretty hilarious when you annoyed him.

"I'll figure something out," Ness responded. "I'm figuring something out. We do need a plan, right?"

"Of course we do." Ninten rolled his eyes. "We've come so close to dying, um, how many times?"

"...Yeah."

Crap. That might've been the wrong thing to say. Scratch that, it was. Why did he always say the wrong things at times like this? Was he insensitive?

Ninten tried to figure that out as Ness stared out the window, bright for early morning. It just felt too surreal; the whole death thing. The fact they had PSI had took a long time to sink it. He really hadn't ever said or thought "I have PSI" until Lucas came and the Starmen started attacking.

Speaking of the blond... Even if Ninten was insensitive, he was actually scared for the kid. He'd seemed depressed ever since... whatever the heck happened back there. And Ninten couldn't blame him. His own siblings were annoying, but if he lost them he didn't know what he'd do. Even if technically he didn't know whether they were... Nevertheless, it made him feel bad for being happy when they found Ness.

"Okay, I have an idea," Ness started, turned back to Ninten with his hands out in front of him. "How about we come down the street," - Ness started making vague gestures with his hands - "and, um, well, wait for a Starman to come so we're not just randomly walking up a preschool?"

"Ness, that's _not_ a good idea!" Ninten responded, facepalming. "Okay, look, all we have to do is walk down there and tell her what's going on. I vote you do it."

"Wha-? No! No way." Ness shook his head. "She wouldn't even believe me anyways."

"Then what's the plan for?"

"I don't know! Maybe telling myself we won't die again, I guess... What if they're tracking her now?"

"Uh, what?"

"I mean, think about it. None of us have seen a single Starman except for me, which was in the middle of the night and it was attacking Paula, so..." Ness slid off the bed and started walking around it. "What if they gave up on us?"

"Ness, I doubt that. It was probably only a coincidence and it's only been a day."

"Then why did the Starman go to attack us while we were literally just sitting here, five feet away?"

"...Crap." Ninten sighed. "Okay, so what if they _are_ targeting her? What are we gonna do about it?"

"I don't know. I have to figure it out." Ness flopped down on the bed again, staring at the ceiling. "I wish this wasn't so complicated."

"Me too."

There was the silence again. Ninten hated being alone with his thoughts. It was either depressing or... well, he didn't know what else. He tried not to think to hard or else he'd be depressed for who knows how long and he knew how bad that'd be right now. So he stared off blankly into space, probably looking like an idiot but at least it was better than the alternate.

"Okay, I'll do it," Ness finally responded after what seemed like forever. "There's no other options, so..."

"Be a brave soul," Ninten replied somewhat sarcastically, earning him a glare. He got slapped when he started laughing.

"Gosh." Ness stood up. "Well, it's time to try to explain something completely impossible to someone I don't even know."

"Well, you said she has PSI and she already saw the things before. You'll be fine."

"I guess..."

"I'm coming with you then, right? So you don't have a nervous breakdown," Ninten added, getting another glare.

"Why am I even friends with you..." Ness muttered. "We need to get going before something does happen," he started again. He walked towards Lucas (who Ninten forgot existed again), told him — though vaguely or else Ness might explode — what was going on and there were off.

For about second before they noticed something was off.

The room was completely empty. Ninten decided that might be just the time, so he checked out in the entrance, but still nobody was there.

"Guys, this is-" He started, looking over his shoulder, only to stop mid-sentence. They weren't there. They weren't there.

They weren't _freaking_ there.

"Okay, don't freak out," he told himself, though he was very much doing just that. "They just, um... Oh, who am I kidding..."

He leaned against a wall, hands gripped on his head in frustration. Okay, maybe not frustration. Anger? Rage? Fear? He didn't know what the word for it was. It was just... It shouldn't be possible. It just shouldn't be possible.

What the heck had even caused it? One second everything was normal and the next, bam, everyone was gone.

Then the world started to distort; the walls disappeared, being replaced with a field. Then a village. Then color inverted. The grass was black with white highlights. Flowers were neon red. And the village was painted blue, a dark blue, the only darkness and non-headache-giving place in this new world.

Instead of being bright, it was creepy.

Ninten couldn't place it — maybe it was the surreal-ness of the place, or maybe how confusing it was, or maybe even the fact he was suddenly alone in a strange world that just popped into existence — but the place was disturbing. Did this place have to do with the reason why everything disappeared?

He kind of doubted it, but the idea was better than nothing. Although he was scared to death (and he didn't say that often) he dared to venture into the mysterious blue village.

It felt like instantly the world changed again, the positions of everything changing. He was teleported to a room with nothing but darkness. No light, nothing. He couldn't even see his hands.

His heart starting racing out of fear; was he gonna die here? In a world he didn't understand, alone? Something flashed in front of him, but it was gone again.

And it never came back.


	23. Apology

I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore.

This story... Gosh, I loved it when I first started writing it. I felt for all the characters, I thought out their plot line, everything...

But it's become hallow to me. I don't feel for the characters anymore. It's happened with almost every story on here, and I'm scared to write. It just feels so bad.

Writing this story has become more of a chore to me than a passion. I'm sorry.

But I have to quit.

Thanks for reading this story while it lasted. I will be back with another one. I don't know when, and it won't have an update schedule like the others. The update schedule was to keep me writing, but I know I'll write if I love the story. I just need the passion... One day, I may come back, but I doubt it.

Thank you for reading, and enjoying, "Believe In You".


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